East Rutherford, NJ---Maven and Yannick Gingras took on the boys and came out the best on Saturday night at The Meadowlands in a $25,000 elimination race for the $500,000 Breeders Crown Open Trot next Saturday in 1:52.2. The lone mare in the field, Maven had to be sixth or or better to make the final and do so from post ten.

Quick Deal and Corey Callahan led the field to the :27.2 first quarter but Sevruga was applying pressure and inherited the lead when Quick Deal made a break. Sevruga and Andy Miller kept the lead to the :56 half before being overtaken on the outside by Arch Madness in the second turn. He kept that spot to the head of the stretch, but Maven was working her way to the front from post seven in the backstretch and when the field straightened for home, she was ready to strike. In the end she simply wore them all down to win by a neck.

Your So Vain (Ake Svanstadt) worked his way up from fourth to be second and Flanagan Memory (Brett Miller) was third. The last three spots in the final went to Wishing Stone (Matt Kakaley), Archangel (Brian Sears) and Arch Madness (George Brennan) was sixth and got the last spot.

“When I went by Jimmy (Takter) in the post parade, I told him she felt like her old self,” said Gingras. “She was parked the whole mile with cover, the trip worked out OK, but it was obviously not ideal. From post ten it was about as good as it was going to get. She’s such a great horse, she didn’t have the best of weeks, coming from the sale (she was sold at Harrisburg on November 8 for $750,000 to current owner Herb Liverman), but being parked the whole mile and ducked in she was tired down the stretch but it shows what a great horse she is. It doesn’t matter, you throw anything at her, she’ll take it and run with it.”

Jimmy Takter trains the 5-year-old mare, making her first start for new owner Herb Liverman and her new trainer.