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Sunday, March 27, 2016

FINALS OF PETTICOAT, SAGAMORE HILL GO MONDAY, TUESDAY

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.