BY
FRANK DRUCKER, Publicity Director, Empire City @ Yonkers Raceway
YONKERS, NY, Monday, November 9, 2015—George
Brennan kept the crowd in abeyance Monday night before finally reaching that
next plateau.
Brennan swept both halves of Yonkers
Raceway’s late daily double, the latter also serving as his 9,000th
career driving victory.
After earning a few checks (but no wins)
with his first eight drives, Brennan—fittingly—reached his milestone with a
twosome trained by Ron Burke.
Favorites Twin B Scandal ($4.90) and a
down-the-road Givenupdreaming ($3.10) prevailed in 1:53.4 and 1:53.1,
respectively, making the chalk players ($8.20 double) and Brennan quite
pleased.
“All milestones are special,” Brennan
said. “I’d been thinking about (the number) a bit, and I knew I was if was
going to get it tonight, I was running out of chances.
“Needing to win the last two races and
having those two trained by Ronnie (Burke) made it pretty cool. We remain very
loyal to one another and in the end it pays off.”
Among those greeting Brennan in the
winner’s circle was stepfather Joe Ricco Jr., himself a winner of nearly 1,000
races as a driver.
The 48-year-old Brennan, a native of
Monticello, NY, won his first race--behind Rob Ron Romper--at his hometown
track as a high school junior back in 1982. His career purse earnings exceed
$152 million. According to U-S Trotting Association statistics, the two-time
local driving champ ranks 17th all-time in wins and eighth in
purses.
