BY
FRANK DRUCKER, Publicity Director, Empire City @ Yonkers Raceway
YONKERS, NY, Sunday, February 28, 2016—Not
Afraid (Dan Dube, $11.80) lasted on the lead Sunday afternoon, winning Yonkers
Raceway’s $32,000 Open Handicap Trot.
Looped leaving (from post position No. 4)
by outside entity Major Athens (George Brennan), Not Afraid did make the lead
before a :28.4 opening quarter-mile. He rated a :58.4 intermission before 3-5
choice Crazshana (Jason Bartlett)—who had left into a four-hole—was moving
again.
The fave engaged the leader in and out of
a 1:27.3 three-quarters, but Not Afraid was not done. He held a short lead off
the final turn as Crazshana grudgingly gave way. Major Athens ducked inside
with every chance, but missed a nose in 1:56.1.
Crazshana was third, beaten a half-length,
with Swishnflick (Mark MacDonald) and Zooming (Tyler Buter) settling for the
minors.
For third
choice Not Afraid, a 7-year-old S J’s Caviar gelding trained by Jimmy Takter
for co-owners his wife, Christina, John Fielding and Goran Anderberg, it was
his third win in five seasonal starts. The exacta paid $58.50, with the triple
returning $162.
Sunday’s “French” trot feature was the
$26,000 opener, won by Dot Dot Dot Dash (Kakaley, $12.60) in 2:26.2 for the
mile-and-a-quarter distance.
This was the third Sunday matinee of the
season, with the two scheduled consecutively for March 13 and 20 (first post
for both 1:10 PM as of this writing)
The Raceway’s
live season continues Monday night (first post 7:10 PM), with a dozen races and
a $10,000 guaranteed Pick 5 pool (50-cent bases wager, races 7 through 11,
program pagers available at www.yonkersraceway.com).
