BY
FRANK DRUCKER, Publicity Director, Empire City @ Yonkers Raceway
YONKERS, NY,
Friday, June 28, 2019—Yonkers Raceway Friday evening (June 28th)
hosted the $167,500 New York Sire Stakes Mike Cohen Pace for 3-year-old
fillies.
As was the case
the previous night, a pair of $83,750 races comprised the event, this one
honoring the memory of the former publicity director at the Raceway as well as
NBC Sports.
The opening
division saw Prescient Beauty (George Brennan) lay down the gauntlet, then just
lay down. The 8-5 polester favorite retook in the second turn from Hurrikane
Norakane (Dan Dube) in between a :26.4 opening quarter-mile and a :54.4 intermission.
Prescient Beauty
was done in and out of a 1:23.1 three-quarters as the cavalry rolled over her.
From post position No. 5, Brooklyn Lilacs (Joe Bongiorno, $50) stacked widest
and closed fastest, tagging So Awesome (Tyler Buter) nearing the wire in a life-best
1:52.2.
Third went to JK
American Beauty (Jordan Stratton), with Crazy Cute (Jim Morrill Jr.) fourth.
Meanwhile, Prescient Beauty wound up last among the seven lasses, beaten more
than 16 lengths.
For sixth choice
Brooklyn Lilacs, a homebred daughter of Rock N Roll Heaven owned by Crawford
Farms Racing and trained by Jennifer Bongiorno, it was her second win in seven
seasonal starts. The exacta paid $329.50, the triple returned $1,670 and the
superfecta paid $8,185.
”I was going to
race her from behind, coming off the break in her last start (Buffalo),” driver
Bongiorno said. “I was glad to see Danny (Dube) leave and mix it up. They were
going very fast, especially for 3-year-old fillies, and when I moved mine wide,
she just exploded.”
The evening’s
second statebred event saw odds-on Excelsior refugee Chase You (Brennan, $3.20)
step up to the adult table, win the draw and hold off Meghan Lynn (Bongiorno)
in a glorified match race. The margin was a neck in 1:53.2, by far a life-best
effort.
Money Shot Hanover
(Buter) and Heaven’s Challenge (Morrill Jr.) wound up third and fourth,
respectively.
For Chase You, a
homebred American Ideal miss owned by Ted Cupp and trained by Michelle
Crawford, it was her seventh win in 11 ’19 tries. The exacta paid $11.40, the
triple returned $55.50 and the superfecta (four wagering choices in order) paid
$142.50.
“She’s just a pro,
she really is,” Brennan said. “I was able to rate the fractions (:28.4, :57.2, 1:25) and she dug in.”
New York Sire
Stakes returns downstate Monday night (July 8th), with the Mike
Sorentino Trot for 2-year-old colts/geldings (purse TBA).
Total purses for the 2019 New York-bred program
are estimated at $14 million. For more information, please visit www.nysirestakes.com.
