BY FRANK DRUCKER,
Publicity Director, Empire City @ Yonkers Raceway
YONKERS,
NY, Friday, July 29, 2016—Jonsie Jones (Tyler Buter, $27.20) was up at the wire
Friday night, winning Yonkers Raceway’s $45,000 Filly and Mare Open Handicap
Pace.
From
the outset, the distaffers threw it down in a hotly-contested affair. Triple
millionairess Anndrovette (Jordan Stratton), as the 13-10 favorite, was caught
three-wide leaving.
She
eventually worked around Know it All (Eric Abbatiello), making the lead after a
:27.3 opening quarter-mile. It was a :56.4 intermission before Sheeza Shark N
(Brent Holland), who closed an early hole, tried it first-up from fourth.
That
one pestered the leader in and out of a 1:25 three-quarters, with Secrets Out N
(George Brennan) second-up and Jonsie Jones—from post position No. 6—operating
from third-over.
Anndrovette
owned the slimmest of leads into the lane, but then an impromptu convention
broke out. The ladies all came together before ‘Jonsie’ found the wire first in
1:53.1. She whipped Secrets Out N by a head, with a wide-side Mach it a Par
(Brian Sears) charging from last to grab third.
Anndrovette
was fourth—beaten a neck for the big check—with Sheeza Shark N getting the
final pay envelope. The five cashers were separated by a half-length, while the
entire octet was two lengths front-to-back at the finish.
For fourth choice Jonsie Jones, a 9-year-old
daughter of Tulane owned by Lrl Racing and trained by Amber Buter, it was her
eighth win in 23 seasonal starts. The exacta paid $112, the triple returned
$734 and the superfecta paid $1,739.
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