Smalltownthrowdown wins Open Handicap Trot at Yonkers
January 26, 2020,Yonkers, NY — Millionaire-in-waiting Smalltownthrowdown (Dan Dube, $28.20) parlayed from the pocket Saturday night (Jan. 25), winning Yonkers Raceway’s $40,000 Open Handicap Trot.
In the game from assigned post position No. 3, Smalltownthrowdown sat behind Nows The Moment (Jason Bartlett) as that one made the lead before a :27.4 opening quarter-mile and after a nasty break by Yes (Brent Holland).
It was between a :58.1 intermission and 1:27 three-quarters when 7-10 favorite Melady’s Monet (George Brennan) commenced and concluded a weak, first-over bid. With the fave done, Now’s The Moment opened a pair of lengths in and out of the final turn. However, he couldn’t close the sale as Smalltownthrowdown edged out and by.
The final margin was 1-1/4 lengths in a season’s-best 1:56, with eight-holer Swansea (Austin Siegelman) closing for third. Melady’s Monet and Lean Hanover (Jim Marohn Jr.) settled for the minors.
For fifth choice Smalltownthrowdown, a 7-year-old statebred Cash Hall gelding co-owned (as Allard Racing) by trainer Rene Allard, Yves Sarrazin, VIP Internet Stable and Bruce Soulsby, it was his second win in three seasonal starts (career 28-for-85, $998,223). The exacta paid $142.50, the triple returned $947 and the superfecta paid $3,015.
Allard didn’t do much wrong, winning with four of his six Saturday starters.
The week’s marquee pace, a $35,000 Preferred Handicap Pace, was won by a down-the-road (:27.3, :57.3, 1:25.2, 1:53.2) Tookadiveoffdipper (Jordan Stratton, $16.60).