Yannick Gingras: Saturday's Hambletonian is Southwind Frank's race to lose

They say the third time’s a charm, but Yannick Gingras prefers to place his confidence in future success rather than dwell on past failures while driving the favorite.

Gingras will drive Southwind Frank in the second of two eliminations for Saturday’s $1 million Hambletonian at the Meadowlands (Live, CBS Sports Network, 4 p.m. ET), piloting the favorite for the third consecutive year.

In the last two Hambletonians, Gingras fell short, first with Father Patrick, who broke at the start in 2014, and then with Mission Brief, who finished second in 2015. But Gingras refuses to focus on the past.

“I’ve wanted to win the Hambletonian just as badly years ago as I do today,” he said. “The last two years are in the past. I don’t look back at the past. Saturday is a new race.”

Southwind Frank, trained by Ron Burke, is the  4-5 morning-line favorite in the second elimination after winning last Saturday’s W.N. Reynolds Memorial. He equaled his career-fastest winning time despite a sloppy Meadowlands track surface in his final start before the Hambletonian.

“I’m very confident, especially after last Saturday,” he added. “He was really powerful and had plenty left.”

Last year’s loss was especially difficult because Gingras drove both elimination winners, filly Mission Brief and gelding Pinkman, but chose the filly for the final and came in second as the two battled to the wire.

He doesn’t regret his decision, though. “I don’t live with regrets,” he said. “If I had to do it again, I’d pick Mission Brief again.”

As long as Southwind Frank is 100%, Gingras believes he can win the Hambletonian. But he’s not counting out the competition, including first elimination 9-5 morning-line favorite Bar Hopping.

“This Saturday is going to be a different Hambletonian,” he said, “and my mind-set is that it’s my horse’s race to lose.”

Amanda Johncola, a senior at La Salle University, is writing as part of the Clyde Hirt Journalism Workshop.