YONKERS, NY, Saturday, January 18, 2014--Lumberjack Willie (Jordan Stratton)
prevailed from the two-hole Saturday night, winning Yonkers Raceway's $33,000
Open Handicap Pace.
Assigned post position No. 2, he was sequestered second behind 7-10 choice
Sapphire City (Eric Carlson.) That one led through early intervals of :27.3 and
a flat 57 seconds.
Not a whole of grief from a first-up Safe Harbor in and out of a 1:25.1
three-quarters, and Sapphire City owned a length-and-a-half lead into in the
lane. However, the people's preference was unable to close the sale. Lumberjack
Willie dove inside, and Escape the News (George Brennan)--who was gapping Safe
Harbor down the backside--saw the memo late. "Willie" beat Escape the
News by a length in 1:52.4. Third went to a closing P H Supercam (Jason
Bartlett), with Sapphire City and Dinner Guest (Dan Dube) completed the
cashers.
For Lumberjack Willie, a 7-year-old Lumber Hanover gelding owned by Tom Ceraso
Jr. and trained by Jack Franklin, he returned $12.40 (third choice) for his
first win in a two seasonal starts. The exacta paid $48.80, with the triple
returning $321.
The race before the Open Handicap saw the largest exacta of the new season.
After 16-1 Grab Your Keys (Stratton) held off 96-1 Militia Man in the $15,000,
fifth race pace, the 5-8 gimmick returned $2,413.
Saturday night props to Nob Hill High (Carlson, $18), who became harness
racing's newest millionaire. The homebred (Robert Mondillo & Donald
Robinson) 8-year-old son of McArdle, trained by Bruce Saunders, skimmed the
cones to win the $20,000, ninth race pace. The 34th lifetime victory was timed
in 2:01.3 for the mile-and-one-sixteenth.
For the second consecutive night, no one took down the Pick 5. So--drum roll,
please--Monday night’s Pick 5 features a $25,000 guaranteed pool (including a
$10,368.68 carryover). Past performances are available for perusal at www.yonkersraceway.com.
The Raceway's five-night-per-week live schedule continues, with first post
every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7:10 PM. Evening
simulcasting accompanies all live programs, with afternoon simulcasting
available daily.
