Meadowlands: Lyons Sentinel upsets in series opener

Lyons Sentinel exploded home after going a third-over trip to take the $37,500 first leg of the Kissin In The Sand Series for open mares on Saturday night at the Meadowlands at odds of 20-1 for trainer Jim King Jr. and driver Tim Tetrick. Her final time of 1:48 2/5 was a lifetime-best and equaled her stablemate Soho Burning Love A's time for fastest female pacer of 2021, established seven days ago.

Nicholas Beach, trained by Jenn Bongiorno and driven by her brother, Joe, equaled the fastest mile of the year in harness racing of 1:47 2/5 when he ripped out of the pocket as the 8-5 second choice to gun down leader American History, the even-money favorite who had established the mark last week. This Is The Plan, who won the MGM Borgata Pacing Series final at Yonkers in his last start, shrugged off a 33-day layoff to miss a fast-charging nose in the $30,000 Open-Preferred Handicap for pacers. American History held third.

Yannick Gingras and Tetrick both drove three winners on the card. Gingras finished the weekend with a half-dozen victories. All-source handle totaled $3,730,993, the seventh consecutive Saturday to see betting bust the $3.5 million barrier.

--edited press release (the Meadowlands)--