BY
FRANK DRUCKER, Publicity Director, Empire City @ Yonkers Raceway
YONKERS, NY,
Friday, May 18, 2018—Stop us if you’ve read this one before…
Odds-on Newborn
Sassy (Jordan Stratton, $2.60) did not play fair Friday night (May 18th),
winning Yonkers Raceway’s $44,000 Filly and Mare Open Handicap Pace in
obnoxiously facile fashion.
This field,
reduced to a half-dozen after a mid-pack defection (ill), found Newborn Sassy
and Call Me Queen Be (Eric Goodell) hooking up early. The former, from what
became outside post position No. 6, stepped around the latter well before a
:27.4 opening quarter-mile, then waltzed through a :56.4 intermission.
Between the half
and the (1:24.4) three-quarters, Mach it a Par (Jason Bartlett) tried it
first-up from fourth. However, the leader’s 57-second middle portion figured to
make everyone else’s life difficult.
Newborn Sassy
owned a length lead into the lane, then widened to 2¾ lengths at the 1:52.3
finish.
Mach it a Par
fought the good fight to wind up second, with Delightful Dragon (Mark
MacDonald) third. Tequila Monday (Brian Sears) and Call Me Queen Be rounded out
the payees, while Motu Moonbeam N (Brent Holland) settled for some lovely
parting gifts.
For Newborn Sassy,
a 5-year-old daughter of Western Ideal co-owned by CC Racing & Jo Ann
Looney-King and trained by Jim King Jr., it was her fourth (consecutive) win in
15 seasonal starts after starting’18 0-for-11. The exacta paid $9.40, with the
triple (three wagering choices in order) returning $29.80.
Yonkers’ Saturday
(May 19th) program offers eliminations (two) for the Art Rooney Pace
and (one) the Lismore. The finalists go at it next Saturday (May 26th)
for $300,000 (Rooney) and $111,444 (Lismore).
Saturday’s 143rd Preakness
Stakes shall be prominently simulcast throughout the Raceway. Mutuel windows
open at 10 AM, in advance of Pimlico’s first post at 10:30 AM. Pimlico offers
14 races (final post 7:35 PM), with the Preakness going as the 12th
race (post time 6:48 PM).
