from harness publicists across North America

Saturday’s (September 18) edition of Racing Roundup features results stories from Yonkers Raceway, Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs, Colonial Downs, Vernon Downs and Cal-Expo.

Giddy Up Lucky rolls in Yonkers Open Handicap Pace

Yonkers, NY — Favored Giddy Up Lucky (Eric Goodell) paid the usher for a better seat at intermission, then strolled away from the rest of the audience, making a Saturday night mockery of Yonkers Raceway’s $42,500 Open Handicap Pace.

Tom Berg photo

Giddy Up Lucky was four lengths better than Forensic Z Tam (Steve Smith) in 1:51.4 in the Open Pace at Yonkers.

Away third from post position No. 2, he moved to leading Psilvuheartbreaker (Cat Manzi) after a 27-second opening quarter-mile. Giddy Up Lucky assumed the lead after the :54.3 midway, before going into seclusion.

He opened up 4-1/2 lengths at the 1:22.3 three-quarters, then widened to seven lengths turning for home. The final margin was four lengths over Forensic Z Tam (Steve Smith) in 1:51.4. Lahaye (George Brennan), Handsome Prince (Dan Dube) and Ghee’s House (Brenh Holland) completed the cashers.

For Giddy Up Lucky, a 5-year-old Camluck gelding trained by Josh Green for co-owners David Rovine and Baron Racing.

— Frank Drucker

Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs
Vlos, driven by George Napolitano Jr., overcame a broken head pole in winning his second straight $24,000 open handicap pace at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs Saturday evening. Napolitano Jr. had a tough time steering Vlos coming down the stretch as Vlos was bearing in but got the job done over a fast-closing Drive All Night (Anthony Napolitano) by three-quarters of a length. Third went to Golden Receiver. With the eighth win in 21 starts in 2010 Vlos went over the $100,000 mark in earnings.

Colonial Downs
Colonial Downs conducted its third “Mixed Breed” card of horse racing Saturday as the harness track’s opening weekend festivities continued in conjunction with the New Kent County Fair. The afternoon program began with an exhibition thoroughbred race, continued with a pair of pari-mutuel steeplechase races, then continued and concluded with ten pari-mutuel harness races. Highlights of the harness portion were respective division victories by Royal Hawaii and Credit Marker in a late closer series, and a first time Colonial victory by 18-year-old provisional driver Cory Stratton. Both Royal Hawaii and Credit Marker scored wire-to-wire wins in the first leg of the Doug & Todd Parker Memorial Trotting Series. Royal Hawaii won in 1:58.3, 2-1/2 lengths better than Jailhouse Funk. Newcomer Dean Magee directed the 4-year-old mare for trainer Kandace Schooley and owners, Jerry and Helen Logan. Credit Marker crossed three ticks faster in the second division as driver Jason MacDougall led the 5-year-old Credit Winner horse to a 3-1/4 length triumph. Both winning times were new lifetime marks.

Vernon Downs
Newcomer Winbak Dimensions came close to the track record for aged pacing horses with his 1:52 victory in Saturday night’s $11,000 featured eighth event at Vernon Downs. Shuffled back to sixth in the early going, Winbak Dimensions ($5.20) advanced on the outside from fifth at the three-quarter mark, and then closed from third in the homestretch to win by a head in the week’s top Miracle Mile pacing contest. The time was just 4/5ths of a second off the Vernon record for older, unaltered Standardbreds on the lateral gait, set by Goin’ To The Beach in 2002. Saturday’s top-class tally marked the fourth season’s score and the 30th lifetime victory for the 7-year-old son of Village Jove-Exact Dimensions, who is owned by William and Jack Heinz. Jim Perry conditions the career winner of nearly $505,000.

Cal-Expo
Open 2 Handicap pacers, racing for a $5,200 purse, were featured at Cal-Expo on Saturday night (September 18), on which Cycle Power May have stamped himself as the best horse on the grounds. Surging at the wire, the son of Cambest got the job done with a three-quarters of one-length win ($9.60). Owned and proudly trained by Nathalie Tremblay, the gelding stopped the timer at 1:53.4, a seasonal best. At Last had to settle for second, and Nittany Linebacker finished one-length farther back, in third.