BY
FRANK DRUCKER, Publicity Director, Empire City @ Yonkers Raceway
YONKERS, NY, Saturday, May 13,
2017—Favorites Melady’s Monet (Jason Bartlett, $2.90) and Somewhere in L A
(Bartlett again, $4.40) delivered the goods Saturday night, winning Yonkers
Raceway’s ‘sloppy’ pair of $55,000 co-features.
‘Melady’—from post position No. 5—took
down the week’s marquee trot. Down the backside the second time he caught the
parked-out Not Afraid (Dan Dube) after that one was rebuffed by pole-sitting
Dewcolorintheline (Jordan Stratton).
After early intervals of :28.1 and :58.2, Melady’s Monet launched his wide bid,
engaging Dewycolorintheline in and out of a 1:27.2 three-quarters. Buen Camino
(Brian Sears) found himself perched behind ‘Melady,’ but could not matched
strides.
Melady’s
Monet opened a length lead into the lane, then widened to 2½ lengths at the
(1:56.3) wire. Buen Camino did wind up second, with 29-1 rank outsider Luck O the
Irish (catch-driver Steve Smith) third. Covert Operative (Brent Holland) and a
tiring ‘Dewy’ grounded out the payees.
For
Melady’s Monet, a millionaire 8-year-old Revenue S gelding owned by Melady
Enterprises and trained by Kevin McDermott, it was his fourth win (44th
career) in seven seasonal starts. The exacta paid $15, with the triple
returning $133.
Somewhere
in L A made short work of his seven inside rivals, winning the weekly featured
pace by three lengths in 1:53.2. Paying a three-wide price to take the lead, he
did so at a :27.1 opening quarter-mile. The rest was simple (:56.4, :1:24.3),
made simpler when 41-1, pole-sitter Western Rockstar A (Dan Dube) decided to
race first-up.
Texicna N
(Stratton) raced second, offering good pace at both ends of the mile. Third
went to Betterlatethnnever (catch-driver Jeff Gregory), with locally-debuting
Mister Daytona N (Andy McCarthy) tiring in the pocket to fourth. Badiou Hanover
(Brent Holland) took care of the rest.
For
millionaire Somewhere in L A, a 6-year-old Somebeachsomewhere gelding trained
by Richard Banca for co-owners D’elegance Stable IX, Carmen Iannacone, T L P
and Gandolfo Stables, it was his seventh win in 16 ’17 tries. The exacta paid
$23, the triple returned $129.50 and the superfecta paid $373.50.
