BY
FRANK DRUCKER, Publicity Director, Empire City @ Yonkers Raceway
YONKERS, NY, Saturday, February 18,
2017—It was the old double-nickel Saturday night as a pair of fives took down
Yonkers Raceway’s $50,000 co-featured Open Handicaps.
Rock of Cashel (Scott Zeron, $13.20) won
the week’s marquee trot from second over, snapping pace-setting (:28.3, :58, 1:27.1) 17-10 choice Springbank
Sam N (Jordan Stratton) by a head in 1:56. Dot Dot Dot Dash (Steve Smith)
offered her best stride late to grab third, with a two-move Red Hot Herbie
(Jason Bartlett) and a pocket-tiring Newcastle (Dan Dube) settling for the
minors.
For third
choice Rock of Cashel, a 7-year-old son of Majestic Son co-owned by Joseph Jannuzzelli
& Jeffrey Ruch and trained by Mark Harder, it was his second win in six
seasonal starts. The exacta paid $48, with the triple returning $124.
The weekly
featured pace saw tepid fave Caviart Luca (George Brennan, $6.30) have a simple
a trip as was equine-ly possible, as in unpressured intervals of :27.3, :57.3,
1:25 and 1:52.2. The final margin was 2¼ lengths over the loose pocket of
Sports Bettor (Brent Holland).
A
season-debuting But of a Legend N (Stratton) was saved to the lane from the
eight-hole, then was sharp closing for third. Delaware interloper Soto (Matt
Kakaley) was also solid late grabbing fourth, while First Class Horse (Tyler
Buter) earned the final pay envelope.
For Caviart
Luca, a 6-year-old Somebeachsomewhere gelding co-owned (as Burke Racing) by
(trainer) Ron Burke, Weaver Bruscemi and Phil Collura, it was his fourth win in
five ’17 tries. The exacta paid $40.40, with the triple returning $664.
More tidbits
from a Saturday evening…
--no one hit
the Pick 5, so Monday night’s gimmick begins with a carryover of $2,310.27
(50-cent base wager, Monday going as races 7 through 11);
--Stratton
won four races, including three in succession, during the 10-race card;
--a local
season-high daily double of $1,251 was the result of 6-Validus Deo (Dube,
$99.50) and 4-Aggressive (Mark MacDonald) winning the first two races.
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