In what will be the richest Blue Chip Matchmaker Series final in history, trainer Brett Pelling has a pair of incredibly- talented pacing mares with eyes on the top prize. Though both Walkin On Sunshine and Rocket Deo drew outside of the likely odds-on favorite Aardie B Miki N in the $490,000 co-feature on Friday night's program at Yonkers, the veteran conditioner believes the final will see a lot more activity than the preliminaries. "Walkin On Sunshine came back with the earplugs in the last two times she faced Aardie B Miki," said Pelling. "Jason (Bartlett) does a great job of backing into you on the final turn." Walkin On Sunshine won two times and finished second on three occasions during the five preliminary legs, and perhaps that's a positive heading into Friday's final. "She's feeling great," said Pelling. "She goes out to train and I'm just a passenger. She's ready to go." As eager is driver Scott Zeron, who has put the mare in striking position but has had to work with limited real estate through the short Yonkers homestretch. While Aardie B Miki N is undefeated in her four starts, all in the Blue Chip Matchmaker, Pelling believes the probable favorite hasn't had to do much work thus far. "I think she's had pretty easy trips," said Pelling, who thinks the large purse on Friday, as well as the post draw, could make things much different in the final. With Aardie B Miki N landing the pole position, driver Jason Bartlett will be called on early in the race and need to make decisions on whether to cut the mile or race from off-the-pace and perhaps provide Walkin On Sunshine a cover trip. "The rail can be tricky," said Pelling. "Jordan (Stratton, Silk Cloud A) has a mare that can leave the gate sharply." Silk Cloud A drew post four, and that will put her inside of Rocket Deo, Pelling's other major contender in the final. Andrew McCarthy will pick up the driving assignment behind Rocket Deo, who was driven to victory in the last three legs by Bartlett. "Andy won't be intimidated," said Pelling with full confidence that Rocket Deo will be a player in the Blue Chip Matchmaker. "She's a big mare but gets through the turns great," said Pelling of Rocket Deo, one of only two 4-year-old mares in the field. "I think the best thing about both of my mares is that they race well with any kind of trip. They are both great coming first-over." While Pelling may have the numbers, Aardie B Miki N has Yonkers' leading driver Jason Bartlett and a prime post position. A winner from off-the-pace in her first two races over the Yonkers half-miler, Aardie B Miki N seemed comfortable when put on the front-end and then coasted to victory without a challenge. ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter What makes the Blue Chip Matchmaker (race seven) a compelling event and far from a two- or three- mare contest is likely the draw. Though Aardie B Miki N has all the credentials, the large purse offers more incentive for longshots to leave the gate with hopes of gaining good early position. Yannick Gingras landed post eight with the Ron Burke-trained Seaside Diva, and it would be no surprise if they attempted to step out of the gate quickly with a chance of improving early position. Seaside Diva was a solid second behind Rocket Deo in the final preliminary leg. Talk Curdy To Me (post three) had some adventurous trips during the preliminary legs and finally put it all together in round five with Todd McCarthy guiding the mare to her first victory in five starts this year. McCarthy has tried to leave the gate hard with this daughter of Betterthancheddar during the series with limited success and thus may be forced to race from behind on Friday. Turn The Page N (post five) has battled tenaciously throughout the series and reached the final despite not winning any of the five legs she competed in. Nevertheless, this Ron Cushing-driven mare has been quite gritty and could surprise if the pace becomes excessive. Beautiful Seaside (post seven) rounds out the stellar field of mares. A two-leg winner, Beautiful Seaside is another that does her best racing coming from off-the-pace. As for a potential fast pace in the race, Pelling summed up the situation quite well. "If they go a 58 second middle-half with Bartlett on the lead, it's going to be tough for everyone," Pelling said. "If the middle half is 55 or 56 seconds, it's another story." Last year's Blue Chip Matchmaker final champion Lit De Rose was unable to qualify this year but has an opportunity to race for solid money in the $100,000 consolation carded as race five on Yonkers' 10-race Friday card. Lit De Rose drew post eight. A recent addition to the Pelling stable, the 4-year-old Sabonis made his first start for his new connections in a qualifier Tuesday (May 6) at Harrah's Philadelphia. Sabonis was an open-lengths 1:53 1/5 winner with Jack Pelling in the bike. "He's a very serious horse," said Pelling when asked. "I've had him maybe six weeks now and he's really impressed me. He's just a classy horse." Sabonis, a dominant force in Indiana as a 3-year-old that also captured the Milstein at Northfield Park, is heavily-staked this year, but Pelling isn't getting ahead of himself yet. "We'll probably look to start him in the Graduate at Woodbine Mohawk Park," said Pelling. "It's not going to be easy, there are a ton of top 4-year-old pacers this year." Pelling expects to dodge Captain Albano in the first round of the Graduate (May 31), with last year's champion still yet to qualify, but North America Cup champion Nijinsky has qualified (1:51 4/5 winner at Mohawk on May 5) and will be heading for the Graduate. Though he's yet to start for Pelling, the trainer sees characteristics in Sabonis that are quite familiar. "He reminds me a lot of Rocknroll Hanover," said Pelling, recalling the 2005 Meadowlands Pace champion he trained some 20 years ago. $490,000 Blue Chip Matchmaker Final - Grade 1 - Friday - Race 7 POST-HORSE-DRIVER-TRAINER-ODDS 1-Aardie B Miki N-Jason Bartlett-Per Engblom 6-5 2-Walkin On Sunshine-Scott Zeron-Brett Pelling 4-1 3-Talk Curdy To Me-Todd McCarthy-Jeff Cullipher 12-1 4-Silk Cloud A-Jordan Stratton-Peter Tritton 10-1 5-Turn The Page N-Ron Cushing-Heidi Cushing 15-1 6-Rocket Deo-Andy McCarthy-Brett Pelling 5-2 7-Beautiful Seaside-Tim Tetrick-Scott Di Domenico 20-1 8-Seaside Diva-Yannick Gingras-Ron Burke 15-1