BY
FRANK DRUCKER, Publicity Director, Empire City @ Yonkers Raceway
YONKERS, NY, Tuesday, September 22,
2015—The field has been finalized for Yonkers Raceway’s million-dollar
International Trot, set for Saturday afternoon, Oct. 10th.
Creatine and Natural Herbie have been
chosen as the United States representatives.
Creatine, a 5-year-old son of Andover
Hall, has raced abroad this far in 2015 for Johnny and Jimmy Takter.
This season, his wins include Hugo Abergs
Memorial (Sweden) and Prix Saint Michel (Finland), as well as a second in the
final of UET Masters (Belgium).
His three-season North American resume,
when he was trained by co-owner Bob Stewart, included 14 wins, nine seconds and
six thirds in 40 starts ($1,329,170).
Creatine’s career North American highlight
was the 2013 Kentucky Futurity at the Red Mile, when he authored a 15-1 upset
in a soggy 1:53.2.
As for Natural Herbie, he already
impressed the local screening committee with last season’s win over a
world-class field in the $250,000 International Trot Preview.
The 5-year-old Here Comes Herbie gelding,
the pride and joy of owner/trainer/driver Verlin Yoder, won his elimination of
the Maple Leaf Trot before finishing third in the final. His career earnings
are approaching $900,000. His winning time of 2:24.4 for the 1¼-mile distance
(same of the International) was/is a world record for the distance over a
half-mile oval.
The two American reps round out the
stellar 10-horse field as the International returns after a two-decade hiatus
The previously-confirmed (alphabetical)
attendees, with their “home” countries, are…
BBS Sugarlight (Norway)
Bee a Magician (Canada)
Mosaique Face (Sweden)
Oasis Bi (Italy)
On Track Piraten (Sweden)
Papagayo E (Norway)
Rod Stewart (Italy)
Timoko (France).
Again, please note the International is
part of a scheduled matinee card, with proposed first post (pending approval of
the NYS Gaming Commission) at 2 PM and the race itself going at approximately
3:20 PM.
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