BY FRANK DRUCKER,
Publicity Director, Empire City @ Yonkers Raceway
YONKERS,
NY, Saturday, July 16, 2016—“I’ve had success with his family, and he was
cheap.”
Such
was the pre-race assessment of one Ray Schnittker Saturday night in advance of
Yonkers Raceway’s $100,00 Lawrence B. Sheppard Pace for 2-year-old colts and
geldings.
Schnittker
and favored Summer Side ($4.30) kept their heads while others around them were
losing theirs, winning by 3¼ widening lengths in 1:55.3.
The
$15,000 (Harrisburg) son of Well Said was put in play early from post position
No. 6. He had company, including pole-sitting Southwind Diablo (George Brennan,
and eight-holer Hurrikane Kingkong (Dan Dube), which forced a spiffy :27.1
opening quarter-mile.
“Diablo,”
steppy behind the gate, was the first to do the dance of damned, before the
quarter. Summer Side inherited the lead before yielding to Hurrikane Kingkong,
parked into the second turn for the privilege.
Nearing
the 57-second intermission, Humboldt (Mark MacDonald), coupled with Southwind
Diablo, also broke. He bothered a few of the back-of-the-bussers, as “Kingkong”
led toward the payoff lap.
Then
out of fourth moved Chip Walther (Jason Bartlett), doing so with purpose. He
took over at the 1:25.4 three-quarters, opening daylight in the final turn,
until…
…oops.
He blew up badly. That allowed Summer Side the chance to extricate himself from
the cones, and he opened from there. Hurrikane Kingkong held second, with
Rollin’ About (Brent Holland) crossing the line third.
However,
after a lengthy look, he was set down for bothering fourth-place finisher Joe’s
Bid (Jordan Stratton) down the backside the second time, so those two positions
were reversed.
Pinkribbon
Warrior (Tyler Buter) earned the final pay envelope, seventh-placed-fifth after
all the misdeeds were adjudicated.
For
Summer Side, co-owned (with Howard Taylor) and trained by his driver, it was a
maiden win in his third start. The exacta paid $29.20, with the triple
returning $235.50.
“I
wanted to leave and sit a hole,” Schnittker said. “I did, then Jason (Bartlett,
Chip Walther) came about a hundred miles an hour and went by, and I thought I
was in big trouble.
“Things
worked out, for us, not him.”
Schnittker,
whose other Sheppard win was back in 1995 (Bingo Hanover), admitted he was
prepared to move this one. “I had him in a ‘2-year-old in training sale’ with a
reserve of $80,000, but there were no takers.”
Now,
he’s out for the purchase price, and then some.
The
race honors the man behind the tremendous success of Hanover Shoe Farms
Saturday
night’s pair of $45,000 Open Handicaps were won by…
--Trot—Shake
it Cerry (Dube, $18.40) in 1:54.2;
--Pace—Doctor
Butch (Holland, $8.80) in 1:50.2.
Stakes action continues Monday night with the
$150,425 New York Sire Stakes Clyde Hirt Pace (2-year-old fillies). Monday’s
Pick 5 begins with a carryover of $2,541.81 (50-cent base wager, races 7 through 11).
