Meadowlands: Roll With Joe divisions won by This Is The Plan, Captain Kirk

Saturday night's Roll With Joe for open pacers at the Meadowlands was split up into two divisions, with This Is The Plan adding another trophy to his case this year in the first $113,000 grouping, and Captain Kirk rallying off hot fractions to take the other $111,500 section.

Workin Ona Mystery (Todd McCarthy) launched to the lead in a 25 4/5 opening quarter in the first split, but then was overtaken by a two-wide Angers Bayama (Andrew McCarthy) past that station. Angers Bayama would go on to the half in 53 2/5 and the three-quarters in 1:22, fending off a first-over bid from Captain Barbossa (Dexter Dunn) on the last turn.

Driven by Yannick Gingras, This Is The Plan had followed Captain Barbossa into contention from second-over, and then Gingras cut him loose three-wide to rally towards Angers Bayama. Through the lane This Is The Plan inched in while Angers Bayama dug in gamely and Workin Ona Mystery searched for space, and at the wire it was This Is The Plan getting the decision by a head in 1:48 2/5. Traffic-troubled Workin Ona Mystery and valiant-in-defeat Angers Bayama dead-heated for second, with Century Farroh (David Miller) and Brassy Hanover (Brian Sears) in fourth and fifth.

"Usually he's good out of a two-hole, but I really couldn't see, looking at the program, I couldn't see a nice two-hole or somebody I really wanted to sit behind in that spot," remarked Gingras. "I figured I could maybe follow Dexter, and we got lucky it worked out tonight. As a 4-year-old he really showed a lot of potential. I thought he was going to be the horse he is now. It didn't work out last year, but now he really is in career form.

"He can do it either way. It's speed racing nowadays, but tonight we changed it up a little bit, and he showed he can do it that way, too."

Ron Burke trains This Is The Plan, a 6-year-old Somebeachsomewhere gelding, for owners Burke Racing Stable LLC., Weaver Bruscemi LLC., J&T Silva- Purnel & Libby, and Larry Karr. This was This Is The Plan's 18th career win, and he has now earned $2,275,200. This Is The Plan paid $5.40 to win.

In the second Roll With Joe rumble, Stars Align A (Sears) gunned to the engine and put a quarter of 26 seconds on the board. Backstreet Shadow (Tim Tetrick) then attacked two-wide out of third in the backstretch, but Stars Align A and Sears left out the favorite in a vicious 52 4/5 half and continued to park him around the final turn and to the 1:20 2/5 three-quarters.

It figured that the closers would come to life after the duel and hot fractions, and Captain Kirk (Scott Zeron), who raced in seventh and ended up fourth-over, had the freshest legs in the lane, rolling by the field on the far outside on his way to a one length win in 1:47 4/5. Beaumond Hanover (Gingras) found room on the cones from the pocket and was second, with Warrawee Vital third after going three-wide from second-over before three-quarters. Ana Afreet N (A. McCarthy) and Shake That House (T. McCarthy) checked in fourth and fifth.

"He has a really good burst for home consistently. I just hoping I could get close enough at the three-quarter pole, and it turned out we did," said Zeron. "He's only had a few starts from a long layoff. The Luthers prepped him back, and he was really, really strong last week finishing, and that's all I kind of wanted from that win. Coming into tonight, I was pretty happy with the way he was last week, and if I could get close enough, I knew he would give me a good last quarter.

"(Greg and Todd Luther) put a lot of money into the game, and that's what they did. They invested in some really expensive horses to be in some expensive races, and I'm happy we finally got one."

Captain Kirk, a 4-year-old son of Captaintreacherous, is trained by Todd Luther for his brother Greg's Black Magic Racing LLC. Captain Kirk is now a six-time winner from 28 attempts, and he pushed his bankroll to $337,450. Sent off at 7-1, Captain Kirk returned $16.80 to win.