BY
FRANK DRUCKER, Publicity Director, Empire City @ Yonkers Raceway
YONKERS, NY,
Wednesday, July 11, 2018—The phrase ‘small but select’ gets invoked for
Saturday night’s (July 14th) $100,000 Lawrence B. Sheppard Pace,
Yonkers Raceway’s premier event for ‘open’ 2-year-old colts and geldings.
With just six
entrants (down from 20 a season ago), all go straight to the gate for the
finale, with Yonkers again paying homage to the Hall of Fame founder of Hanover
Shoe Farms. The race began in 1964, with iconic Bret Hanover its first winner.
It continued, sometimes as a split stake, through 2003, before being
resurrected in 2012.
This season’s
Sheppard goes as the sixth race during the dozen-race card, with first post at
the usual 6:50 PM.
There appears to
be some aptitude among the happy half-dozen, led by statebred World on Edge
(George Brennan, post 5). The son of Roll with Joe, co-owned (as Burke Racing)
by (trainer) Ron Burke, Joe DiScala Jr., J&T Silva-Purnel & Libby and
Adriano Sorella, made a successful purse debut here, winning his $53,000
division of the New York Sire Stakes late last month (down-the-road 1:57.1).
At $50,000
(Harrisburg), he was the priciest of the participants.
Another member of
the Empire set is pole-sitting Hurrikane Kingklee (Dan Dube), who’s been third
in both of his sire stakes tries (here and Monticello).
The Art Major colt
is trained by John McDermott for co-owners Jonathan Klee Racing, Kuhen Racing
and George Vierno.
Just Plain Loco
(Jim Marohn Jr., post 3) was a 14-1 upsetter in his first race for money, a
1:54 effort at the Meadowlands. The gelded son of Well Said is co-owned by
(trainer) Tom Fanning and Paul Lang.
“He’s a small
horse—maybe the smallest I’ve ever trained—but doesn’t know it,” Fanning said.
“He’s athletic and handy and should move forward off that start.”
Treasure Tom
(Jason Bartlett, post 4), a Mach Three gelding---the other in the field—enters
the Sheppard off a pair of Pocono qualifiers…both with Bartlett driving.
We can’t guarantee
Larry Bird is going to be in and around Westchester Saturday night, but his
nicknamesake (new word) is. Hickfromfrenchlick (Mark MacDonald, post 2) was a
blowout winner in the $11,000 division of Goshen’s Landmark Stakes (1:57.3,
back half :56.3).
The statebred son
of So Surreal is co-owned by (trainer) Ray Schnittker, Nolamaura Racing and
Thomas Spatorico.
Can We Dance (Greg Merton, post 6), trained by Nancy Johansson, is another making his first
purse try. The son of A Rocknroll Dance is a half-brother to Sweet Rock, a
career earner of more than $611,000.
