BY
FRANK DRUCKER, Publicity Director, Empire City @ Yonkers Raceway
YONKERS, NY, Monday, July 17, 2017—Yonkers
Raceway Tuesday night (July 18th) plays host to a bevy of
young ladies, comprising the $159,500 New York Sire Stakes Bruce Hamilton Trot
for 2-year-fillies.
The event again honors the memory of the
longtime Executive Secretary of the Harness Horse Breeders of New York, one of
the Empire State’s true movers and shakers who also happened to be one of its
finest people.
There are no shortage of first-season
females hitting town, as in six divisions (races 5 through 10) during the
dozen-race card. First post is the usual 7:10 PM. The groupings go for anywhere
from $26,000-$27,000, depending upon number of starters.
The road to the winner’s circle in a fair
amount of these divisions seemingly goes though co-owner/trainer/driver Åke
Svanstedt.
Lucky Ava drew outside her six rivals in
the third division. The daughter of Lucky Chucky, co-owned by Svanstedt (with
Little E LLC and Van Camp Trotting), went the distance (2:01.3) in her Buffalo
bow.
Svanstedt and Plunge Blue Chip (post 5) loom a short price in the fourth event.
The Muscle Mass miss, co-owned (with breeder Blue Chip Bloodstock), threw down
a two-minute gauntlet in her purse debut, also in a New York Sire Stakes event
at Hamburg.
Svanstedt teams with Natalie Hanover (post
7) from the outside venue in the penultimate Hamilton event. As with her
stablemates, ‘Natalie’ shuffled off to Buffalo and won (2:04) at first (NYSS)
asking. The Chapter Seven miss is co-owned by Svanstedt-Nasstrom Stable, Van
Camp Trotting, Anders Olsson and Lars Berg.
The stable’s lone first-out non-winner,
Fury Road, starts from post No..2 in the evening’s final statebred event. The
daughter of Muscle Mass, owned by Knuttson Trotting, finished a solid second in
her debut.
Not every early-season standout is sent
out by Svanstedt.
Ooteeny (Mark MacDonald, post 3) landed in
the third NYSS event fresh off a 31-1 Buffalo bedazzler (2:03.4). The daughter
of Credit Winner is trained by Jim Campbell for owner Runthetable Stables.
Lima Novelty (Jason Bartlett, post 3), the
lass who picked off Fury Road in western New York (2:01.3), found her way into
the evening’s fifth foray. This Chapter Seven lass is owned by Ken Jacobs and
trained by Linda Toscano.
