BY
FRANK DRUCKER, Publicity Director, Empire City @ Yonkers Raceway
YONKERS, NY, Saturday, August 31, 2019—It
there was a better advertisement for New York-breds than the one Yonkers
Raceway displayed Saturday night (Aug. 31st), one would be
hard-pressed to find it.
Odds-on favorite Gimpanzee (Brian Sears,
$2.60) gave nothing else a chance in the 65th Yonkers Trot, dusting
his seven foes in a track-record performance.
From post position No. 4 in the $500,000
foray, Gimpanzee took the lead from 127-1 number Sheena’s Boy before a
28-second opening quarter-mile.
The early portion of the race included a
pair of jumpers in Osterc (George Brennan) and Livinonthedash (Marcus Miller).
While those two miscreants were leaving the course, Hambletonian winner
Forbidden Trade (Bob McClure) was easing into a four-hole.
That four-hole became a three-hole after
Soul Strong (Dexter Dunn) broke. Meanwhile, Gimpanzee was all by his lonesome
at the :56.4 half. Then, for good measure, he threw down a :56.4 back half, the
result a 1:53.3, 4¼-length win in the second jewel of the Trotting Triple
Crown.
The mile was a track record for 3-year-old
cots and the fastest Trot held here (Windsong’s Legacy won the 2004
edition at Hawthorne in a stakes-record 1:53.1).
Forbidden Trade, though no threat to the
winner, was a credible, two-move second (in horse’s and driver’s first local
appearance). A recovering Soul Strong was third, with 199-1 rank outsider No
Drama Please (Jason Bartlett) and HL Revadon (Jim Marohn Jr.) moved up to
fourth and fifth, respectively, after Sheena’s Boy broke in a tiring pocket,
disqualified from fourth to sixth.
Osterc and Livinonthedash rounded out the
order.
For
newly-minted millionaire Gimpanzee, a statebred son of Chapter Seven co-owned
by Courant Inc. and S R F Stable, it was his fifth win in seven seasonal starts
(career 14-for-26, $1,145,996) The exacta paid $8.50, the triple returned $18
and the superfecta paid $269.
Gimpanzee has
won all five of his Westchester starts, while Sears won his fourth Yonkers
Trot.
“All the
credit to Marcus (Melander) and his outfit,” Sears said. “He’s been a total pro
from the first time I sat behind him, just so mature and he was ready tonight.
It’s just a pleasure to be a part of it.”
“When the draw came out, I knew it was his race to lose,”
Melander said of the defending statebred and overall divisional champion. He’s
been great on a half (-mile track). “He lays down in the turns over like a
motorcycle.
“This is an amazing race to win and I
don’t think there is a better 3-year-old on a half-mile track and I think he
showed it tonight.”
A race later,
the half-million-dollar 64th Messenger Stakes found American Mercury
(Tyler Buter, $16.20) finding room inside and picking off 1-20 favorite
Bettor’s Wish (Dexter Dunn) in 1:51.3.
Pole-sitting
Bettor’s Wish, as expected, left the gate, while American Mercury—from post No.
3—stepped around Branquinho (Ray Schnittker) and into an early pocket. They
weren’t going that much (:27., :55.3), not even when U S Captain (Bartlett) moved
from fourth.
That one did
draw alongside Bettor’s Wish, however, in a modest 28-second (1:23.3) third
quarter. That left Buter with a decision…swing off the cones or hope to find
room inside.
Bettor’s Wish—the lone $30,000 supplemental entrant into the
race—owned a length lead into the lane, gradually disposing of U S Captain. A
patient American Mercury was loaded, though, needing a path to ply his craft.
He was obliged when Bettor’s Wish bore out and the pursuer took down the
prohibitive fave, winning the second jewel of the Pacing Triple Crown by a
head.
U S Captain was third, with Branquinho and Escapetothebeach
(Corey Callahan) grabbing the minors. Waterway (Joe Bongiorno), Aflame Hanover
(Sears) and Reigning Deo (George Brennan) brought up the rear.
It was the first Triple Crown win of Buter’s career.
For second choice American Mercury, a soph Empire-bred
American Ideal gelding co-owned by Crawford Racing, Northfork Racing,
Chuck Pompey & Scott Bice and trained by Chris Oakes, it was his seventh
win in 10 ’19 tries. The exacta paid $22, the triple returned $57.50 and the
superfecta paid $308.50.
“He was super-sharp coming into the race,”
Buter said. “First and foremost, I owe [trainer] Chris [Oakes] a big thank you
for giving me a shot on this horse. It’s been a fun ride all summer, driving
him and traveling New York. He definitely came through tonight and showed
everybody what he can do.
“I came off Dexter (Dunn)’s helmet there
and he kicked on the gas. I think that might have been the winning move,
because if I stayed there, Dexter was probably going to back into me as much as
he could. So then, as soon as I was off his helmet, Dexter stepped on the gas,
and I was able to get back down the inside and find a little room late, and it
worked out”
Asked when the ‘switch went on’ for
American Mercury, Oakes offered, “When I gelded him. He was kind of a big,
growthy 2-year-old. He had a lot of ability; we loved him training down, and
quite honestly wasn’t quite as good as I thought he would be at 2, even though
he raced some pretty good miles.
Bringing him back at three, he was
training good, but I just thought he’d probably be more focused, mentally, for
racing, as a gelding. We made that decision and I honestly believe it helped
him a lot.
“He means business now.”
