from harness publicists across North America

Sunday’s (June 16) edition of Racing Roundup features results stories from Vernon Downs, Running Aces and Saratoga Casino and Raceway.

Northern Companion scores in featured event at Vernon Downs

Vernon, NY — Northern Companion charged to a favorable result in Sunday afternoon’s featured pace, while drivers Rick Plano and Jimmy Whittemore and trainer Lonny Hale also got to celebrate a successful Father’s Day at Vernon Downs.

Fotowon photo

Northern Companion was a 1:51 winner in the Open Pace.

Competing in Sunday’s $10,000 Open contest, Northern Companion battled briefly with the favorite Special Strides going to the quarter before taking charge at the half and continuing on to a neck victory over the on-rushing PJ Lucky in the 10th event.

Sunday’s score was the second locally, but the seventh this season for the speedy son of Cambest-Smoke It Out, who now sports 27 career wins and total earnings of $140,752. Trainer Robert Hoffman handled the bay battler for owner Dorothy Zara.

Defending driving champ Plano posted four wins on a Vernon card for the third time this season, winning the first, second, seventh and eighth events to take a 44-39 lead over Roman Lopez in the 2013 dashes-won derby. The 61-year-old horseman also added a training tally to earn a 19-18 advantage over his chief driving rival on the current condition chart after 24 programs.

Whittemore, a multiple Downs driving champ, followed suit with first-place finishes in Sunday’s third, fourth, ninth and 11th events to secure his initial four-win performance of the track’s 60th campaign.

Former Vernon conditioning champ Hale harnessed winners in races three, five and six, lifting his meet total to 16 and moving into third place in this year’s trainer standings.

Leah’s Ex earned her third straight local score with a come-from-behind 1:55.1 triumph in Sunday’s $8,000 Open-2 Trot (race nine). Whittemore did the steering for trainer Angus MacDonald and owner Neal Chilton.

— Jim Moran

Running Aces
Wendy Haberberg’s pride and joy, Ya U Bet Cha, lowered his lifetime record to 1:53.3 on Sunday night by capturing a $5,000 conditioned event at Running Aces. The Minnesota-sired son of Heavenly Favored won for the first time in four seasonal starts for driver Tim Maier, holding off a late-charging Cowboy Hanover (Moonie Svendsen) and CMR Windmach (Jason Ryan). A race restricted to Minnesota-sired trotters four years old and up kicked off the program with Maier capturing that race behind Rich Dessert in 1:58.2. It was the second straight win in the class for the son of Rich Boy who is owned by Maier’s wife Denise. RAS Shakinthtbacon (Ryan) was second with Nearly Rich (Brandon Jenson) up for third. Most competitive race of the evening was a conditioned/claiming event for non-winners of seven races with $10,000 claiming tags. The $6,000 purse attracted a full field for the second straight week as well as producing a very exciting finish. Last week the assembled field of eight finished within three lengths of one another at the wire. This group did even better with the top eight all within two lengths at the end of the mile. This week’s winner was Somecam who is trained and driven by Gerry Longo for owner Peg Hoffman. He rallied from far back to edge Bold Willie (Svendsen) by a head with Fox Valley Hotstuf (Luke Plano) and Beach’s Nick (Steve Wiseman) also lapped on to the victor. Maier and Plano were the only multiple winning drivers, both scoring doubles. Plano’s trips to the winner’s circle were both with Tim Brown trainees, the pacer Just The Way Itis and the trotter Dreaming of Amy, both owned by KC Carvalho.

Saratoga Casino and Raceway
Don’t Blame Her (Village Connection) matched the fastest win time of the year for a pacing mare at Saratoga Casino and Raceway on Sunday in the afternoon’s feature. Driver Joe Bongiorno moved the veteran distaffer to the lead after a quick quarter of :27.2. Bet down to odds of 2-5, Don’t Blame Her showed the form that resulted in her being named the track’s Pacer of the Year last season as she opened up a big lead in the stretch before stopping the timer in 1:52.4 in the $20,000 Open, equaling the mark set by Cocoa Beach as the fastest for a lady pacer this year. The win time also set a track record for a 10-year-old pacing mare. Momma Rock (Billy Dobson) and Memumsnotnice (Mark Beckwith) hit the board underneath Don’t Blame Her in the Father’s Day matinee feature at the Spa. Don’t Blame Her is owned by Bob and Barbara Bongiorno and trained by Brad Irvine.