BY FRANK
DRUCKER, Publicity Director, Empire City @ Yonkers Raceway
YONKERS, NY, Monday, March 30, 2015—So
far in 2015, Yonkers Raceway has had four legal-bare-minimum $2.10 win payoffs.
Three of time have been by Witch Dali
(Tim Tetrick), who again fooled no one Monday night, winning the $54,800 final
of the Petticoat Pacing Series for 3- and 4-year-old fillies and mares.
Leaving alertly from post position No. 3, Witch Dali was stung early on a cold, windy Westchester evening. She paid a :26.4 first-quarter price to get around pole-sitting Cheyenne Robin (Dan Dube) before the lone soph in the field relented for the pocket. Cruisinwithmybaby (Tyler Buter) found a three-hole, with Hay Stacked (Eric Carlson) away fourth.
Witch Dali then rated a 30-second next
interval (:56.4 half) and was sailing toward a 1:25.2 three-quarters when
Cruisinwithmybaby made her second move. However, Witch Dali remained
unflustered by such an intrusion, taking a 2½-length lead in the lane.
She completed her four-race series
sweep, winning by a couple of lengths in 1:55. Hay Stacked rallied inside for
second, with Cruisinwithmybaby, Royal Mama (Matt Kakaley) and Inside the
Glass (Jordan Stratton) settling for the remainder.
Cheyenne Robin, Anti Entity (George
Brennan) and Always Sunday (Jason Bartlett) rounded out the order.
“She went a big first quarter and
just held tough,” Tetrick said. “Hasn’t given me a bad race yet.”
For Witch Dali, a 4-year-old daughter of
Dali co-owned (as Alagna Racing) by (trainer) Tony Alagna and Brad Grant, it
was her sixth win in 10 seasonal starts (13-for-24 lifetime, career earnings a
buck under $164,000). The exacta paid $8.70, the triple returned $37.20 and the
superfecta paid $144.
Series action continues Tuesday
afternoon with Yonkers’ richest race of the season to date, the $62,200 final
of the Sagamore Hill for 3- and 4-year-old male pacers. Friday, it’s the third
round of the Blue Chip Matchmaker (two, five-horse $40,000 divisions), while
Saturday offers the second round of George Morton Levy Memorial Pacing Series
(to be drawn Tuesday).
