BY
FRANK DRUCKER, Publicity Director, Empire City @ Yonkers Raceway
YONKERS, NY, Saturday, June 24, 2017—The
people’s preferences prevailed Saturday night, with Resolve (Ake Svanstedt,
$6.20) and Somewhere in L A (Jason Bartlett, $3.80) winning Yonkers Raceway’s
$55,000 co-featured Open Handicaps.
Double-millionaire Resolve showed no ill effects from his sojourn to Solvalla.
Returning to the scene of a Yonkers International Trot world record last
October, he proved as proficient at eight furlongs as he did at 10.
Resolve, from post position No. 7 (in one
notch after a defection) worked around Gural Hanover (George Brennan), then
finished it off (:28.1, 58, 1:26.4,
1:54.3). Gural Hanover eventually broke in the pocket,
while Obrigado (Mark MacDonald) chased after ducking in third.
Resolve held sway, beating Obrigado by a
length. Springbank Sam N (Jordan Stratton) was a best-of-the-rest third, while
Money Maven (Eric Goodell) and Melady’s Monet (Bartlett) were both moved up,
respectively. Gural Hanover was set down from fourth to seventh for his
transgressions.
For Resolve, a
6-year-old son of Muscle Hill trained by his driver for owner Hans Enggren, it
was his second win in four seasonal starts. The exacta paid $20.20, with the
triple returning $99.
Saturday night’s Open Handicap Pace was
nary more than a public workout for Somewhere in L A. From post No. 7, he threw
down the gauntlet (:27, 56.1,
1:24.2, 1:52.1) to defeat a closing Bit of a Legend N (Stratton) by a couple of
lengths. Dream Out Loud N (Shaun Vallee) skimmed the cones for third as the
81-1 rank outsider, with a tiring-pocket Somewhere Fancy (Dan Dube) and Clear
Vision (Brennan) settling for the remainder.
For ‘L A,’ a
6-year-old Somebeachsomewhere gelding co-owned by D’Elegance Stable IX, Carmen
Iannacone, T L P and Gandolfo Stables, it was his eighth win in 19 ’17 tries.
The exacta (two wagering choices) paid $7.80, the triple returning $75.50 and
the superfecta paid $258.80.
The featured pace
win was one of a half-dozen for Bartlett during the dozen-race card.
Special salutations to Americanprimetime
(Brennan, $4), who drilled the $40,000 Preferred Handicap Pace in 1:51, fastest
local mile of the season.
