BY
FRANK DRUCKER, Publicity Director, Empire City @ Yonkers Raceway
YONKERS, NY, Sunday, May 20,
2018—Smalltownthrowdown (Brian Sears, $8.50) was a two-move titan Sunday
afternoon (May 20th), winning Yonkers Raceway’s $54,800 Open
Handicap Trot
The field of eight (seven with
nose-to-gate, one in back of bus) went as the opener and the first of four
‘French’ trots. Smalltownthrowdown, three-wide from post position No. 6—in one
notch after the programmed pylon number was removed—found an early four-hole.
He watched Buen Camino (Jim Marohn Jr.)
and longshot Bluebird Jesse (catch-driver Brent Holland) duel early, with the
latter—out two turns—making the lead between a :28.1 opening quarter-mile and
:57.2 half.
Smalltownthrowdown was then ready for his
cue, extricating himself from the cones and busting the race wide open. The
lead was 3½ lengths at the 1:27 three-quarters. After a 1:55.2 milepost,
Smalltownthrowdown finished the mile-and-a-quarter in 2:25.4.
Buen Camino found room late to grab a
best-of-the-rest second, beaten 3¾ lengths. Bluebird Jesse easily held third,
with Kinetic King (Jordan Stratton) and Gural Hanover (George Brennan)
relegated to the minors. Seasoned Saint (Jason Bartlett) was a never-in-it
sixth as the 19-10 favorite.
For third choice Smalltownthrowdown, a 5-year-old statebred
Cash Hall gelding co-owned (as Allard Racing) by (trainer) Rene Allard, Bruce
Soulsby, Yves Sarazin and VIP Internet Stable, it was his second win in three
seasonal starts. The exacta paid $26.80, the triple returned $124 and the
superfecta paid $439.50.
Sunday’s
return of the ‘New York, New York Double’ offered a winning combination of
9-Forest Blue (Belmont’s 3rd race) and 1-Noble Warrawee (Yonkers’ 7th
race) paid $50.75 for every correct $1 wager. Total pool was $6,254.
The next
Sunday matinee is June 17th (post time TBA).
