BY
FRANK DRUCKER, Publicity Director, Empire City @ Yonkers Raceway
YONKERS, NY, Sunday, July 15, 2018—Such an
Angel (Brian Sears, $14.60) did it quite well Sunday afternoon (July 15th),
winning Yonkers Raceway’s featured $54,800 Open Handicap Trot.
The weekly trotting feature went as the
late-morning opener, the first of four, mile-and-a-quarter, bigger-field
‘French’ forays.
Away third from post position No. 5, Such
an Angel saw lass Weslynn Dancer (Jason Bartlett) serve as the 28-second
opening act before yielding to a wide-early In Secret (George Brennan).
The one’s lead in the polls continued
through a :57.2 half before Such an Angel moved with purpose.
The challenger took over right by the 1:27
three-quarters, then opened up some overcast daylight.
While this was transpiring, an
out-every-step Marion Marauder (Scott Zeron), as the 1-2 favorite, continued to
advance from his eight-hole impost. However, he found himself with too much
work to do as Such an Angel—after a 1:55 milepost— widened to 3¼ lengths in and
out of the final turn.
The leader finished it off in a good-track
2:24.2…matching the distance record for a 4-year-old gelding (Hemi Seelster).
Marion Marauder trimmed the final margin by a length-and-a-quarter while easily
second. In Secret, Mostinterestingman (Steve Smith) and Charmed Life (Mark
MacDonald) grabbed the minors.
For third
choice Such an Angel, a previously-mentioned 4-year-old (statebred Credit
Winner) gelding owned by Sam Caruso Jr. and trained by Hunter Oakes, it was his
sixth win in 15 seasonal starts. The exacta paid $32.80, the triple returned
$113.50 and the superfecta paid $714.
Sunday’s
final seasonal Belmont rendition of the ‘New York, New York Double’ featured a
winning combination of 1-Hay Field (Belmont’s 3rd race) and 2–Beach
Memories (Yonkers’ 10th race) returned $20.20 (hindsight?) for every
correct $1 ticket. Total pool was $5,673.
The next
Sunday matinee is July 22nd (post time TBA).
