BY
FRANK DRUCKER, Publicity Director, Empire City @ Yonkers Raceway
YONKERS, NY, Saturday, October 7,
2017—Always at My Place (George Brennan, $3.40) and Consolidator (Greg Merton,
$14.40) were the standouts Saturday night (Oct. 7th), winning
Yonkers Raceway’s $50,000 co-featured Open Handicaps.
The weekly featured pace had odds-on,
pole-sitting Always at My Place stuff Thisjetsabookin’ (Brent Holland) in
behind, get no pressure early, then finish what he started (:27, :56.2, 1:23.4, 1:51.4).
Hel defeated
a solid, first-up Scott Rocks (Eric Goodell) by three-quarters of a length,
with Gratian Hanover (Dan Dube), 66-1 outsider Theartofconfusion A (Steve
Smith) and Cooperstown (Merton) settling for the minors.
For ‘Always,’ a 6-year-old Always a Virgin
gelding co-owned (as Burke Racing) by (trainer) Ron Burke, Weaver Bruscemi,
Larry Karr and Phil Collura, it was his eighth win in 22 seasonal starts
(career 35-for-99). The exacta (two wagering choices) paid $7.70, with the
triple returning $39.80.
The week’s marquee trot saw a well-driven
Consolidator—from post position No. 2—use a parked-out Money Maven (Holland) as
a pick through intervals of (:28.1,
:57.1, 1:26.4), then hold off a pocketed Cash Me Out (Goodell)
by a desperate nose in 1:55.2.
Ameliosi (Jordan Stratton), In Secret
(Brennan) and Lookslikeachpndale (Dube) came away with the lesser envelopes,
with International Trot-bound In Secret having his winning streak end at six.
Even-money Rubber Duck (Jason Bartlett) raced parked with cover, fading to
sixth. .
For fourth
choice Consolidator, a 4-year-old daughter of Triumphant Caviar co-owned (as
Allard Racing) by (trainer) Rene Allard, Bruce Soulsby, Laura Baker and Alan
Weisenberg, it was his fifth win in 19 ’17 tries. The exacta paid $113.50, with
triple returned $1,061.
Consolidator,
making her local Open Handicap debut, has three wins, a second and third in
five Westchester starts…after beginning at the rock-bottom level.
