from harness publicists across North America

Saturday’s (June 8) edition of Racing Roundup features a results story from Saratoga Casino & Raceway, Buffalo Raceway and Pompano Park.

Code Word prevails in Open at Saratoga

Saratoga, NY — Code Word closed in the lightning lane to secure the win in the $20,000 Open Pace on Saturday night at Saratoga Casino and Raceway. The Brad Irvine trained 6-year-old moved over the $100,000 mark in seasonal earnings after sitting the pocket to longshot Malicious (Brad Kramer). Loose late, Code Word surged to the wire, hitting the line first in 1:54, edging out hard charging Money Twitch A (Stephane Bouchard) and Bet On Roulette (Wally Hennessey).

Joe Bongiorno piloted Code Word to his sixth victory of the season and 25th of his career.

— Mike Sardella

Buffalo Raceway
What The Sheik, a 6-year-old brown horse out of Western Hanover won the $11,000 Open Pace in 1:55.2 for owners JML Stables Inc, of Heathrow FL, and Michael L Torcello of Hamburg, NY, here at Buffalo Raceway Saturday night (June 8). It was the second win in thirteen attempts this year for What The Sheik. Trained by Gerry Sarama, the $5,500 share of the winning purse put What The Sheik’s season’s earnings at $23,255, and $313,104 lifetime. It was his 23rd win in 109 starts.

Pompano Park
Chris and Sophia Valkanoff’s McGreat, knocking on victory’s door the past two weeks, finally made it through on Saturday night in Pompano Park’s winner’s over pacing feature. The 6-year-old son of McArdle, trained by Luanna Beeson, was given a splendid drive by Kevin Wallis to report home a handy winner in 1:52 over Hyperion Hanover (Andy Santeramo) and Kommander Hawk (Stephane Lareau). Avantage and Rick’s Sign picked up the final two awards in the field of eight. At the outset, Kommander Hawk (post five) and Hyperion Hanover (post eight) had the best early foot with Avantage also in the mix early with McGreat who wended his way into fourth around the first turn…but not for long. After Hyperion Hanover won the battle to the :27 opening panel, McGreat was already on the move and took command with ferocity shortly thereafter and opened up a three length lead halfway through the mile in :55. No challenger got within a length and a half from that point forward as McGreat clocked three quarters in 1:23.2 and then used a :28.3 closer to seal the deal for his fourth win of the year in 20 starts, sending his yearly bounty to $31,665.