BY
FRANK DRUCKER, Publicity Director, Empire City @ Yonkers Raceway
YONKERS, NY, Saturday, March 26,
2016—Yonkers Raceway hosts its richest races of the season to date next week,
with finals of the Petticoat (girls, $60,200) and Sagamore Hill (boys, $63,000)
Pacing Series.
Both series were open to 3- and
4-year-olds who were non-winners of four races and/or $40,000 through last Dec.
1.
Chivalry has its place, so the ladies of
the Petticoat are up first in Monday night’s sixth race. Capela (Scott Zeron,
post 7), the only perfect (3-for-3) prelim lass, didn’t get a whole lot of help
with the open draw. The 4-eyar-old daughter of Sportsmaster, trained by
Reginald Hazzard for co-owners Reginald Hazzard II and Legacy Racing of
Delaware, enters having won her last five starts.
Little Miss Sporty (Brian Sears, post 3)
won twice in her series legs, while Heavenly Hill (Jordan Stratton, post 8)
rolled to a convincing win in her last chance to impress the judges.
Brown Brinny (Jason Bartlett, post 1), I’m
in Luv (Matt Kakaley, post 2), Rolling Going Gone (Brent Holland, post 4),
Special Package (Dan Dube, post 5) and Bin in Heaven (George Brennan, post 6)
round out the roster.
Tuesday afternoon, it’s the finale (sixth
race) of Yonkers’ annual tribute to Teddy Roosevelt, the Sagamore Hill.
Rodeo Romeo (Sears, post 2) and
Don’tcallmefrancis (Bartlett, post 6) each spoke softly and carried a big
stick, as in a pair of wins and a second in prelim competition
The former—Sears’ choice of the two—is a
4-year-old son of Rocknroll Hanover trained by Chris Ryder for co-owners
Oompa’s Farm, Michael Day and Robert Mondillo, while the latter is a 3-year-old
Rocknroll Hanover gelding owned by Enzed Racing and trained by Nifty Norman.
Secret Delight (Kakaley, post 5) and J T
(Brennan, post 7) also each won twice in the preps, while Toni’s Affection
(Zeron, post 1), AM Magic Man (Dube, post 3), Sports Bettor (Mark MacDonald,
post 4) and B Well (Andy Miller, post 8) complete the gang.
Each series is accompanied by a respective
$25,000 consolation as a fifth race.
