by Frank Drucker, Publicity Director, for Empire City at Yonkers Raceway

Yonkers, NY — She classes up the joint. Bee A Magician (Brian Sears, $3.30), in her first purse try since late May here, didn’t disappoint Saturday afternoon (Oct. 15), winning Yonkers Raceway’s $250,000 Invitational Trot.

Mike Lizzi photo

Bee A Magician returns to a familiar arena, the winner’s circle, after a five-month layoff at Yonkers Raceway on Saturday.

Away third from post position two in the 1-1/4 mile event, Bee A Magician saw a couple of ladies, polester Barn Doll (Jeff Gregory) and Allerage Star (Andy Miller), plus Homicide Hunter (Eric Goodell) all offer early foot. After a :27.4 opening quarter-mile, and with Homicide Hunter finding a seat behind her, the fave was pointed forward. Bee a Magician made the lead before a :57.4 half, with second-tier Melady’s Monet (Jason Bartlett) first-up from sixth.

That one engaged the leader through a soft 1:28 three-quarters (mile in 1:57), with Bee A Magician owning a 1-1/2 length lead in and out of the final turn. She held sway from there, repelling a stubborn “Melady” by three-quarters of a length in 2:25.1. Barn Doll was a pocket third, with Wind Of The North (Corey Callahan) and Lookslikeachipndale (Dan Dube) settling for the smaller envelopes.

For Bee A Magician, a 6-year-old daughter of Kadabra trained by Nifty Norman for co-owners David McDuffee, Mel Hartman and Herb Liverman, she’s now 4-for-4 this season and 45-for-69 in her brilliant career. She is just shy of $4 million in purse money earned.

The exacta paid $26.20, with the triple returned $109.50.

“To have a horse ready to go the 1-1/4 miles against a very good field after nearly five months is a credit to Nifty (Norman) and a credit to her,” Sears said. “I qualified her this past Tuesday (at the Meadowlands) and she was impressive. Today, she was back to her ornery self and it was good to see.”