Tellitsassymae wins at The Meadowlands

Tellitsassymae, the talented Indiana sired pacing mare from the Ernie Gaskin Stable, scored a win at The Meadowlands Friday, Feb. 12. Driven by Dexter Dunn, the five-year-old was a winner in 1:52.0 in conditioned pace action.

Starting from post four, Dunn had intentions early on of getting to the lead, but was parked on the outside with Tellitsassymae at the quarter in :28.0 as Arnie’s Angel and Todd McCarthy passed by the quarter mile marker in the lead. Tellitsassymae got to the top before the half in :56.0 and led the rest of the mile, fending off a late move by Arnie’s Angel in the stretch by three-quarters of a length. Windsong Parisian and Corey Callahan finished third.

The favorite in the field, Tellitsassymae paid $3.20 for the win. The Tellitlikeitis mare is owned by Henry Blackwell II, Darla Gaskin and Emily Ratcliff, all of Indiana. Travis Alexander trains the pacing mare who was bred by Rebekah Yoder and Kelsey Groff.

It was the first win of 2021 in the first start of the year for Tellitsassymae. She now has 11 wins in 52 career starts and earnings in excess of $156,000. Her career best time of 1:50.1 was taken as a three-year-old at Harrah’s Hoosier Park.

Earlier in the night, another Indiana sired horse made its way to the winner’s circle. Rockin Panda, driven by Andrew McCarthy stormed out of post nine to the lead and never looked back, opening up to a four and one-half length win in 1:53.4. Trained by Jamie Gerard, the Rockin Image eight-year-old gelding paced home in :28.4 for the win over Thunder Dome, driven by Todd McCarthy, and Major Jesse, driven by Corey Callahan.

Rockin Panda paid $8.60 for the win. He is owned by Strategic Racing Stable of Maine and was bred by Mervin Miller. He is now two for four in 2021 and overall, has 17 wins in 133 starts with more than $180,000 in earnings. His career best time of 1:52.1 was taken at four at Dayton Raceway.