BY
FRANK DRUCKER, Publicity Director, Empire City @ Yonkers Raceway
YONKERS, NY, Tuesday, August 8,
2017—Yonkers Raceway Tuesday night (Aug. 8th) played host to the
$162,500 New York Sire Stakes Milt Taylor Trot for 2-year-old colts and
geldings.
Three divisions, worth $54,000 each, went
postward.
The opening event saw second choice Clive
Bigsby (Jason Bartlett, $4.60) get the jump on 3-5 Funknpancakes (Corey
Callahan), beating that rival handily in 1:58.2.
Away fourth from position No. 7, ‘Clive’
saw Alex the Great (Andy Miller) move around Funknpancakes and lead through
intervals of :29.4 and :59.4.
Clive Bigsby then challenged through the
1:29.3 three-quarters, putting ‘Alex’ away. The new leader opened a
length-and-a-half in the lane then, with an extricated ‘Pancakes’ in pursuit,
widened to the three lengths at the wire. Alex the Great was a clear third.
For Clive
Bigsby, a Muscle Mass gelding co-owned by (trainer) George Ducharme and Winners
Racing Stable, it was his fourth win in five seasonal starts (2-for-3 in NYSS).
The exacta paid $7, with the triple returning $28.60.
“He’s just a
handy horse with a good attitude,” Bartlett said. “When I made the lead, his
ears pricked right up and he took off.”
The second
sire stakes grouping, pared to gang of seven, was won by a pocketed Purpose
Blue Chip (Dan Daley, $7)
In play from
post No. 3, ‘Purpose’ was sequestered behind even-money choice Cruising in
Style (Bartlett) as that won led strung-out rivals (:29.1, :59.2, 1:29).
Despite
cruising in style, Cruising in Style was unable to close the sale. Up a length
off the final turn, he watched as Purpose Blue Chip went by…with purpose.
The final
margin was a length-and-a-half in 1:58.4, with The Veteran (Brian Sears) making
up some 10 lengths in the back half to finish third.
For third choice Purpose Blue Chip, a son
of Chapter Seven trained by his driver for co-owners Ann-Mari Daley, James
Crawford IV, Richard Lombardo and Donald Brenner, it was a maiden-breaker after
a pair of seconds. The exacta paid $14.80, with the triple returning $52.
The ‘fastest was the lastest’ as odds-on
Fourth Dimension (Sears, $2.60) easily won the evening’s final sire stakes
soiree. Having to wait his turn for the lead, Fourth Dimension—from post
No. 6—did just that.
Once there, few issues (:28.1,:58, 1:27.2,
1:57), with the effort matching Dejarmbro’s (Sept., 2010) track record for
frosh trotting colts. The margin was a length-and-quarter in and out of the
final turn and 2¼ lengths at the wire. Perlucky (Trond Smedshammer), at 25-1,
offered good late trot to grab second from Rich Uncle (George Brennan) while
54-1 number Ronnie Goldstein (Kim Crawford) was fourth.
For Fourth Dimension, a Chapter Seven colt
owned by Courant Inc. and trained by Marcus Melander, he’s now a perfect
3-for-3 (all in NYSS) to begin his career.
The exacta paid $32.40, the triple
returned $102 and the superfecta paid $2,717.
“I don’t know what I can say about him
other than he’s a superb athlete,” was Melander’s winner’s circle summation.
