BY FRANK DRUCKER,
Publicity Director, Empire City @ Yonkers Raceway
YONKERS, NY, Thursday, July 9,
2015—Freshmen colts and geldings hit town over the next few racing programs,
with Yonkers Raceway hosting open stakes pacers and sire stakes trotters.
Saturday night, a pair of $25,000
eliminations (races 6 and 8) for the Lawrence B. Sheppard Pace for 2-year-old
lads.
The first four in each elim get invited
back (provided they ask politely) for next Saturday’s (July 18) $107,500 final.
Among the promising frosh in the opening event are Autotune Hanover (Tyler
Buter, post 3), a $120,000 son of Art Major, and Rodeo Rock (Dan Dube, post 5),
a $107,000 Rock N Roll Heaven colt with a pair of seconds to begin his career.
The second elim for the Sheppard finds two entrants already with wins included
in their resumes. Joe Larry N Curly (George Brennan, post 4) steps out of New
York Sire Stakes competition after a blowout 1:56.3 win at Monticello, while
Tailgunner Hanover (Ray Schnittker, post 6) threw down a 1:57.3 gauntlet in a
division of the Landmark at Goshen.
Monday night, statebreds return with the
$149,524 New York Sire Stakes Milt Taylor Trot for first-season colts/geldings.
Four divisions (races 2,7,9 and 10) comprise the event.
The best in the opening ($36,856) division
might be Andrew Goldstein (Kim Crawford, post 5). The RC Royalty gelding was a
pocket second in his Saratoga sire stakes debut.
The second ($37,556) event offers a pair
of upstate NYSS winners in Dayson (Jimmy Whittemore, post 5) and Master Class
(John Campbell, post 6). The former is Conway Hall gelding trained by Howard
Okusko, while the latter—who won at 35-1—is a Credit Winner colt trained by
Anette Lorentzon.
Monday’s third ($37,556) grouping also
features a couple of statebred winners. Reve Royale (Brian Sears, post 4), a
son of RC Royalty trained by George Ducharme, and Dog Gone Lucky (Buter, post
5), a Credit Winner colt trained by Chuck Sylvester.
The final ($37,556) division includes
Chargin’ Credit (Schnittker, post 4) and Credevie (Trond Smedshammer, post 7),
both off in-the-money efforts in statebred competition.
The Raceway’s live season continues Thursday through Saturday (all at 7:10 PM).
Evening simulcasting accompanies all night programs, with afternoon
simulcasting available daily.
