BY
FRANK DRUCKER, Publicity Director, Empire City @ Yonkers Raceway
YONKERS, NY, Saturday, August 31, 2019—It
was an loud Saturday night (Aug. 31st) exclamation point after the
stakes portion of Yonkers Raceway Triple Crown program.
Theartofconfusion A (Austin Siegelman,
$8.30) rewrote the local track record books to the tune of 1:49.3, Yonkers
Raceway’s first-ever sub-1:50 mile.
From post position No. 4 in the $30,000,
11th-race pace, Theartofconfusion A (‘I just let him roll,’
Siegelman said) gave nothing else a
shot. The confirmed off-the-pace number this night plowed through intervals of
:26.2, :54.2 and 1:21.3.
His lead
increased from 2½ lengths at the half to five lengths at the three-quarters to
six lengths in and out of the final turn.
The final
margin was an obscene 10 lengths, taking two-fifths of a second off the
previous Westchester record held in partnership by The Real One (Pat Lachance,
2016) and Tequila Monday (Matt Kakaley, this past June).
Mach N Cheese
(Eric Goodell) was a more-than-distant second as the 4-5 favorite, while Fine
Diamond (George Brennan) and Elwell (Jim Marohn Jr.) rounded out the gimmick
finishers.
For second
choice Theartofconfusion A, a 9-year-old Down Under Riverboat King gelding
co-owned by (trainer) Gilberto Garcia-Herrera and Barbara & Donald
Arnstine, it was his sixth win in 25 seasonal starts. The exacta paid $18.60,
the triple returned $297 and the superfecta paid $1,279.
