There's big money riding this Friday night at MGM Yonkers Raceway as the $250,000 MGM Grand Prix Trotting Series finale hosts eight horses going a mile and a sixteenth. Yonkers' leading driver Jason Bartlett likes where's he's starting from in a field of eight, sitting behind one of the likely favorites in Ari Ferrari J. An impressive winner at the added distance earlier this year in the $250,000 Robert Miecuna Trot at Yonkers, Ari Ferrari J will be making his 45th and last career start on Friday. "I like the draw," said Bartlett, assessing Friday's contest. "The added distance mixes things up a bit. The inside horses can get a little squeezed." For Bartlett, post four, where Ari Ferrari J will start in Friday's eighth race, is ideal. "A lot of horses from the outside that normally would have a tough time with the first turn, now have a chance to leave where they wouldn't at a mile," he noted. For Ari Ferrari J, a 4-year-old son of Walner that owner Ken Jacobs has a deal in place that will send him off to stallion duty in 2025, the MGM Grand Prix Trotting Series final represents a career-concluding race and last chance to prove his talent on the track. It's something that Bartlett is keenly aware of as his regular pilot this year. "It's hard to replace a horse like this," Bartlett said, giving credit to the Tony Alagna trainee that has won half of his 14 starts this year and has bounced back nicely following a disappointing eighth-place finish in the Breeders Crown. "I put him in a good spot and then got covered up by Winner's Bet (eventually Crown champion). I thought at worst we would be second or third," said Bartlett, who revealed that Ari Ferrari J scoped sick after the race, likely explaining why the horse faded in the stretch. "But he bounced back great in his next start and was even better last week," said Bartlett of the victory in the third leg of the series. "He beat a very classy horse in It's Academic." Ari Ferrari J's (5-2 morning line) early speed gives Bartlett plenty of options on Friday night and despite his inside post advantage, the driver recognizes there are plenty of other talented horses also looking for the top prize. "Jordan's (Stratton) horse (Take All Comers) has been racing great," Bartlett said. "Ronnie Burke has two in there that can get out of the gate." Leading trainer Burke will send out 2-1 morning-line favorite It's Academic (post six) with David Miller and Chapercraz (post seven, 7-2) with Yannick Gingras. It's Academic won two of the three preliminary legs of the series and enters the final as the richest horse in the field with a shade under $2.7 million banked. Chapercraz has had a big season of his own in 2024, winning the Hambletonian Maturity as a 32-1 outsider in July. ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter The Jim Campbell-trained Take All Comers (6-1) has been a fixture at Yonkers this season and comes into the final with consecutive leg wins. In his November 8 triumph he was clocked in 2:01 for the added distance. Take All Comers landed post five. Delayed Hanover (8-1) finished in a dead-heat with Take All Comers in the penultimate leg of the series. Dexter Dunn is listed to replace Bartlett in the bike behind the 6-year-old from post three on Friday night. Bestfriend Volo (post one, 20-1), Ghostly Casper (post two, 20-1) and Pappardelle (post eight, 20-1) round out the field for the MGM Grand Prix Trotting Series final. Bartlett likely has the overwhelming favorite in the $35,000 Filly and Mare invitational with Grace Hill in the seventh race. The prior Breeders Crown champion and one of two mares to defeat the likely Horse of the Year Twin B Joe Fresh this year, Grace Hill returns to Yonkers for trainer Virgil Morgan looking to regain winning form. "The night I raced her before the Breeders Crown she was as good as a horse could be," said Bartlett, recalling the 1:51 3/5 mile at Yonkers on October 11 that set Grace Hill up for her biggest triumph of the year in the Breeders Crown elimination eight days later. "I knew Virgil (trainer Morgan Jr.) was having trouble with sickness and her tying up all year." Grace Hill has indeed regained top form, and Bartlett isn't concerned at all with the post eight draw in Friday's handicapped event. "For a big horse she gets around the half-mile very well," said Bartlett of Grace Hill. Grace Hill will face seven rivals, including Blue Chip Matchmaker Champion Lit De Rose (post five) and the resurgent Coachellabound N (post seven), a winner in three of her last four races at this level for trainer Ricky Bucci. Bartlett appears well on his way for a career high in total earnings with his mounts in 2024 and will likely have one of the favorites in the MGM Grand Prix Pacing Series final should Coaches Corner continue the form he's been showing the last couple of weeks. Coaches Corner finished a solid second in a brisk 1:50 4/5 mile in Monday's (November 11) second leg behind Desperate Man. "Per (Engblom) has done a great job keeping him fresh," said Bartlett of Coaches Corner, who finished second in the MGM Borgata Pacing Series final at Yonkers, won the Joe Gerrity at Saratoga in July, and is still strong in November. "I would have preferred to be sitting second with him, but the race didn't go that way, and he fought to the end to be second," said Bartlett. Friday's 10-race card at Yonkers kicks off at 7:00 P.M. (EST), with the MGM Grand Prix Trotting Series final set for approximately 9:40 P.M. in race eight.