BY
FRANK DRUCKER, Publicity Director, Empire City @ Yonkers Raceway
YONKERS, NY, Monday, March 27, 2017—You
just have to admire someone who was in a sow barn by day and a Yonkers Raceway
winner’s circle by night.
“She’s the best horse we’ve ever had,”
owner Jeffrey Williamson said after not-quite-death-and-taxes Cousin Mary
(Jordan Stratton, $2.70) easily disposed of her seven rivals in Monday’s (March
27th) final of the $61,000 Petticoat Pacing Series.
The series was open to 3- and 4-year-old
pacers who are/were non-winners of four races or $40,000 through last Dec. 1 and
pretty much closed once ‘Mary’ strutted her stuff.
After hat-tricking her three Petticoat
prelims, Cousin Mary won the draw for the final. Yielding early to St. Kitts
(Jason Bartlett), the people’s choice took over eight before a :27.4 opening
quarter-mile. From there, is was quite simple (:57.2, 1:25.4, 1:54.3) after putting away a
first-over bid from Vintage Babe (Yannick Gingras).
The margin, a
length-and-a-half entering the lane, was 2¾ lengths at the wire. St. Kitts was
second, with a closing A Crafty Lady (Dan Dube) third. Vintage Babe and Real
Diva (George Brennan) settled for the minors, while Northern Soiree (Matt
Kakaley), Rei’s Star Cross (Jim Marohn Jr.) and Angels Rockn Pink (Mark
MacDonald) rounded out the order.
For Cousin
Mary, a 4-year-old daughter of Camluck owned by Williamson—a hog farmer
northwest of Toronto—and trained by Andrew Harris, it was her seventh win in
nine seasonal starts. The exacta paid $13.20, the triple returned $170 and the
superfecta paid $704.
“Honestly,
when she first came to me, I didn’t think that much of her,’ Harris said. “She
was handling (Yonkers’) lower conditions, but not going that fast. When she
moved up from non-winners of four (races) to non-winners of eight, she lost but
raced better than she did when she was winning.
“That’s when
I thought she had a future. Tonight was the first time the series Jordan
(Stratton) popped her plugs, and I don’t know where her bottom is.”
A $30,000 series
consolation was won by a Winners Over MacDonald, $36.60) in 1:55.1.
Monday night’s
Pick 5, which began with a $5,353.51 carryover, attracted $22,248 worth of
fresh investors. The winning combination of 4/1/4/5/1 paid $60.87 for every
winning half-a-buck-wager.
The $61,800 final
of the Sagamore Hill Pacing Series goes Tuesday night (March 28th).
