BY
FRANK DRUCKER, Publicity Director, Empire City @ Yonkers Raceway
YONKERS, NY,
Friday, February 22, 2019—Tepid choice Itty Bitty (Jim Marohn Jr., $7.10)
picked off a tiring leader Friday night (Feb. 22nd), winning Yonkers
Raceway’s $44,000 Filly and Mare Open Handicap Pace.
Unhurried from
post position No. 3, Itty Bitty saw a wide-early Monica Gallagher (Matt
Kakaley) have to work to get around Ideal Lifestyle A (a returning Mark
MacDonald). ‘Monica’ paid a :26.4 opening-quarter-mile price for the privilege,
only to have Ideal Lifestyle A pull pocket by the :55.3 intermission.
That lass began to
open up down the backside, widening through a 1:23.4 three-quarters and taking
a 3½-length lead into the lane. However, the hooves were getting heavy and Itty
Bitty—who had gone three-deep around a dullard—found herself within range.
Itty
Bitty rolled past Ideal Lifestyle A late, winning by a half-length in a
season’s-best 1:53.4. A last-at-the-outset Betterb Chevron N (Jordan Stratton)
did get the bottom of the ticket, with 79-1 outsider Shezza GNP N (Austin
Siegelman) and Monica Gallagher settling for the minors.
For
Itty Bitty, a 5-year-old daughter of Always a Virgin co-owned (as Allard
Racing) by (trainer) Rene Allard, B & I Stables and Stephen Klunowski, it
was her second win in seven seasonal starts. The exacta paid $29, the triple
returned $224 and the superfecta paid $4,332.
