by Frank Drucker, publicity director, Yonkers Raceway
Yonkers, NY — Many a bulb on Yonkers Raceway’s toteboard was pressed into holiday service on Monday night (Oct. 10), with the $18,000 fifth race pace producing several season-high payoffs.

Mike Lizzi photo
Taylorlane Cruiser (#2) paid $157.50 to win in the fifth race at Yonkers.
Early fractions of :27.3, :55.4 and 1:23.4 led to the front end falling down. The bombardiers were waiting to pick off the panting, with 77-1 Taylorlane Cruiser (Stephane Bouchard) — fifth turning for home — defeating 99-1 Upscale Hanover (Jordan Stratton) — seventh turning for home — by a nose. The mile and one-sixteenth went in 2:00.3. Digital Z Tam (Patrick Lachance) salvaged third as the 13-10 favorite.
Taylorlane Cruiser’s $157.50 win mutuel was the largest locally of the season, as were the $1,755 exacta and $11,938 triple. The pro-rated (for $2) $121,252 superfecta ($6,062.60 for a 10-cent ticket) was completed with Whogoesfirst (Yannick Gingras). For the record, the numbers were 2-8-3-4.
Ironically, the previous high win price of 2011 was the $143 of Rucker Place, who was in this race and finished sixth.
Yonkers’ previous high exacta was $1,262, occurring Sept. 30, while the previous high triple payoff — $9,761 — took place in mid-August. The largest superfecta of the season — a $2 pro-rated price of $127,463 ($6,371.15 for a 10-cent ticket) happened in late July.