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Wednesday, June 26, 2013

YR - YONKERS' "JACKPOT NEXT DOOR" CLAIMING SERIES DEBUTS FRIDAY

BY FRANK DRUCKER, Publicity Director, Empire City @ Yonkers Raceway

YONKERS, NY, Tuesday, June 25, 2013--There are horse trailers, there are trailing horses...and, in the case of Yonkers Raceway Friday night, there are going to be horse trailers with trailing horses.

That's because the opening round of Yonkers' debuting "Jackpot Next Door" Claiming Series has produced overloaded fields.

The five-Friday series, for $20,000 claiming pacers of both sexes, has proven quite popular. So much so that seven of the evening's baker's dozen races are "Jackpot Next Door" events, and all but one of those events have second-tier starters. All races during all four prelim rounds carry a $20,000 purse.

Ladies first (races 1 and 4), with the second of those two a nine-horse affair. The lads do battle in races 5,6,10,11 and 12, featuring 9,9,10,10 and 10 entrants, respectively.

A horse may be claimed only during his/her first two series starts, with a 50 percent premium added to a second-start claim (in addition to standard allowances for age and gender).  The finals, worth  $76,000 (boys) and $59,900 (girls), and their requisite consolations, are scheduled for Friday, July 26th.

The Raceway's five-night-per-week live schedule continues, with first post every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:10 PM. Evening simulcasting accompanies all live programs, with afternoon simulcasting available around the NYRA schedule.