By all accounts, driver Dexter Dunn has lost no faith in Let It Ride N despite a "sub-par" performance in the second leg of the MGM Borgata Pacing Series at Yonkers Raceway. "He had post eight and it was an impossible trip," said Dunn of the sixth-place finish in the March 22 event. "The judges at Yonkers got very strict about drivers giving holes. From post eight if I had left with him, I would have been parked at least two turns." Thus, Dunn took the alternative and took back to last from post eight, and then befell a victim to a slow first half as well as a stalled outer flow. "The judges weren't even going to accept allowing a favorite to tuck in front for cover," said Dunn, who intimated that the hard policy against drivers is being relaxed. For Let It Ride N, Monday's fourth round $40,000 division (race four) will represent his penultimate opportunity to make an impact and gain enough points to reach the final. A win in the first leg was significant, but missing a week and finishing off the board in one leg makes Monday's race, as well as the last leg, crucial if the impressive import is to reach the rich final. "I expect he'll be good this week after having a week off," Dunn said with confidence that conditioner "Nifty" Norman will have his charge ready as he takes on five rivals in one of three divisions on Monday. Dunn has been careful not to take Let It Ride N to the front, and up until his last race that strategy was flawless, as the son of Rock N Roll Heaven had captured all of his North American starts. The driver wasn't about to tip his hand towards strategy for this Monday but seemed to hold confidence that Let It Ride N would be able to handle the consequences, whether put on the lead or raced from behind. In Monday's short field there are two horses directly inside Let It Ride N (post five) that have shown plenty of early speed over the half-miler in the past. One time MGM Borgata (Levy) champion Western Fame (post three) and This Is The Plan (post four) had been assertive in the early stages throughout their careers. Right now This Is The Plan is the sharper of the two, having finished second in all three of his preliminary legs of the MGM Borgata. Trained by Ron Burke, This Is The Plan put in a Herculean mile last week, racing parked the distance from post seven and yet still managing to go forward in the stretch, a solid runner-up to three-leg winner Hesa Kingslayer N. Dunn will have to start from the outside with Western Joe in Monday's second $40,000 MGM Borgata division, but that's not likely to impact the veteran son of Western Ideal. "That was an impressive last 100 yards he paced last week," said Dunn, somewhat gushing over the come-from-behind rally that gave Western Joe his first series win, to go along with a second and fourth in the earlier rounds. "He didn't come off the second to last turn that well," said Dunn of Western Joe, who appeared to be lagging cover as the field headed up the backstretch the final time. The driver had witnessed Western Joe's issues on turns at the Meadowlands as a spectator. "If you watched him at the Meadowlands there were races where he seemed to be done on the final turn and then when they turned into the stretch he'd pick up the bit and fight on. He's a warrior," remarked Dunn. Western Joe faces six rivals, including two-leg winner Rockapelo (post four) in Monday's sixth race. The streaking Leonidas A looks for his third MGM Borgata Series leg win in the third (race seven) division on Monday. Leonidas A drew post four in a field that includes first round winner Lyons Steel (post two). Fans of Dexter Dunn will find him quite active at multiple tracks in the coming weeks. With Harrah's Philadelphia re-opening, Dunn plans to be a regular while also spending time at Yonkers, the Meadowlands and Pocono, where he'll have some high-quality mounts in the Weiss Series.