by Matt Zuccarello, GSY Series Reporter

East Rutherford, NJ — Under clear skies and with 82 degree temperatures in North Jersey Friday night (May 19), the amateur GSY Series continues to heat up. Friday was another exciting amateur trotting event that did not disappoint.

Keystone Thomas was out in his customary front-end position with Robert Hechkoff in the sulky and carved out sensible fractions for the three-quarters of a mile. He would not relinquish the lead as several other horses left and were parked for the entire race.

Sitting the pocket for the first half-mile was Real DJ Hanover, driven tonight by Sarah Svanstedt. She decided to pull the pocket just after the half, and opened up that spot for the eventual race winner Bjanthony, who had the red-hot Joe Lee in the bike.

As the stretch approached Hechkoff and Svanstedt were nose-to-nose with Lee sitting a patient third as he had no racing room. In midstretch, as the top two were battling and tiring some, the rail opened up and Lee dove down inside to get up by a neck at the finish.

Sitting patiently and most likely anxious with a ton of trot paid dividends for him and to all bettors who backed the 3-1 shot at the windows, to a tune of $8.20 for a $2 win wager. The final time for the mile was 1:56.3. This 5-year-old gelding is by Credit Winner and is owned by Bernard White and trained by Al Annunziata.

As the summer weather is upon us, now is the perfect time to catch some exciting amateur and professional harness racing at the Big M every Friday night through August. First post is 7:15 p.m.