BY FRANK
DRUCKER, Publicity Director, Empire City @ Yonkers Raceway
YONKERS, NY,
Saturday, October 11, 2014—Yonkers Raceway Saturday
night hosted the sixth annual Fall Harvest Festival, which again spotlighted the
thriving relationship between horse racing and agriculture throughout New York
State.
All the popular
Festival sights, sounds and tastes were there, including live music, pony
rides, New York State craft beers, face painting and a pumpkin patch.
Also on
the docket was the Legislators' Challenge, where a dozen of the state's
elected officials slugged out in the sulky (or double-seated jog cart, as the
case may be).
The
three, four-horse divisions were won by…
--State Senator Martin Malave
Dilan (D-Brooklyn), driving (with some nominal assistance from Jason
Bartlett) Critical Acclaim in 2:13.3;
--Repeat
"Challenge" Assembly Member Andrew Garbarino (R-Bayport), driving
(again, with Bartlett there for some reason), Sarno in 2:13.3;
--State Senator Phil Boyle
(R-Bayshore), driving (with Jordan Stratton as his GPS) Show Me Up in a
night’s-fastest 2:11.3.
With all due respect to
those who left with Legislators' Challenge bragging rights, the biggest winner
was breast cancer awareness and research. Yonkers Raceway, in conjunction with
the North America Amateur Drivers Association, donated $15,000 to the
Susan G. Komen Greater NYC.
"We were excited
to be invited and, obviously, overjoyed with the donation," Linda
Tantawi, CEO of Komen Greater NYC said. "It's so important to get
tested. Seventy percent of women who develop breast cancer have no family
history of the disease.”
To keep with the theme of
the evening, drivers carried pink whips, pink horseshoes were given away and
pink blankets—sponsored by a dozen of the Raceway’s leading trainers—were
presented to all the winning horses (a salute to trainer Monica Banca for her
role as “blanket point person”).
For more information, please
visit www.komennyc.org.
