by john manzi for NAADA
YONKERS,
NY-The final leg of the NAADA Trotting Series was contested tonight (May 17) at
Yonkers Raceway and when the dust had settled Paul Minore and Dr. John Kokinos
each emerged victorious in their respective divisions and both were repeat
winners in the series.
Minore
and his old war horse Wygant Prince, used the front-end route for a 1:59
victory and “Dr John” used similar tactics to notch a 1:58.3 triumph behind
Here Comes Numbers. . However both drivers needed the photo finish camera to
verify the decisions.
In
his contest Minore set sail from the three-hole with his 11-year old SJ's Photo
gelding and cut nearly equal fractions of :29.1; 1:00 and 1:29.4 before turning
back his stubborn competition. Still with a solid one length lead as the field
turned for home Minore was busy urging his charge as Bobby Ciarvardini and
Balimor AS supplied constant pressure but when the photo-finish carmera snapped
Wygant Prince had notched his 36th career triumph which raised the
trotter's lifetime earnings to almost $410,000. Fox Valley Steffen took home
the show dough for Jennifer Lappe.
The
winner is owned by Minore and trained by Taylor Gower.
Employing
his usual strategy, Kokinos, who seems to like the front-end, sent the 10 year
old altered son of Here Comes Herbie to the lead and played catch me if you
can... and nobody could, although his competitors made a race out of it as they
headed for paydirt.
Still
seemingly comfortable as the field heard for paydirt a hard charge by Master of
Excuse and driver Monica Banca nearly made the outcome in question. But Here
Comes Numbers gave Dr. John his fourth winning ride in the series as the
veteran trotter tripped the camera for a neck triumph in 1:58.3. Lurking
closely behind the leaders another neck farther back was third place finisher
Soul Train and Joe Lee.
The
winner is owned by Patrick Laiso and Jennifer Lappe and trained by Ms Lappe.
Slated
next week is the consolation followed by the $15,000 series finale.
