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| Foreign Officer holding off Electrofire in Saturday Night's Open Handicap (Skip Smith Photo) |
Leaving from post position No. 5 as the 7-5 favorite, Foreign Officer paid the price to get around Electrofire (Pat Lachance) after a :27.3 opening quarter-mile.
He then found a 55.3 half, all the while contending with a parked-out Gallant Yankee (Brent Holland). Sea Venture (George Brennan) looked to move wide around that one as Foreign Officer moved past a 1:24.3 three-quarters.
The leader was a length-and-a-half to the good turning for home, needing only to hold off the challenger on his back. Foreign Officer did, beating Electrofire by three-quarters of a length in 1:53.2. A from-last Tobago Cays (Jeff Gregory), Here We Go Again (Jason Bartlett) and Grab Your Keys (Larry Stalbaum) grabbed the remainder.
For Foreign Officer, a 5-year-old Western Ideal gelding co-owned by David Rovine, Melvin Hartman, J L Benson Stables and Foreign Officer Partners and trained by Tony Alagna, he returned $4.90 for his first win in four seasonal starts. The exacta paid $26.40, with the triple returning $261.
Also, Saturday night props go to Rock to Glory (Brennan, $2.40), who won the $27,000 Preferred Handicap Pace in 1:51.3. That was the fastest local mile of the season to date and matched the track record for 4-year-old geldings.
Yonkers' five-night-per-week (Monday/Tuesday/Thursday/Friday/Saturday) live schedule continues. First post for all programs remains at 7:10 PM. Evening simulcasting accompanies all live programs, with afternoon simulcasting available around the NYRA schedule.
