Racing Roundup: Real Nice wins Yonkers feature
August 1, 2009,from Harness Publicists across North America
Saturday’s (August 1) edition of Racing Roundup features results stories from Yonkers Raceway, Saratoga Raceway, Tioga Downs, Scarborough Downs, Ocean Downs, Cal-Expo and Batavia Downs.
Real Nice wins Yonkers feature
Yonkers, NY — The big Yonkers Raceway news Saturday night was Real Nice won the featured $48,000 Open Handicap Pace. The bigger news might have been that Jason Bartlett wasn’t sitting behind him…but more about that factoid in a bit.
Shane Strassberg photo
Real Nice lived up to his name thanks to a 1:52.3 score in the Yonkers feature.
Real Nice (Brent Holland), Dave Ain’t Here (Stephane Bouchard) and Eagle Real One (Jeff Gregory) — assigned the three inside post positions in descending order — led the parade. Real Nice watched early as Eagle Real One hung both Toucan Sam (Bartlett) and 3-5 choice Four Trumps A (Larry Stalbaum) through a :27.4 opening quarter-mile.
The favorite eventually made the lead before a :55.3 intermission, but those in behind couldn’t wait to get out. With Toucan Sam finishing his Froot Loops and going home before a 1:24.1 three-quarters, Eagle Real One, Dave Ain’t Here and Real Nice all vacated the cones.
Eagle Real One owned a short lead into the lane, but Real Nice powered on by. He won by 1-1/2 lengths in 1:52.3, matching a season’s best. Dave Ain’t Here snapped second over Eagle Real One, with Pandora’s Sox (Billy Dobson) and King Cat Anvil N (Jordan Stratton) completing the cashers.
Real Nice, a 4-year-old Real Artist gelding trained by Matt Medeiros for co-owners Gary and Beverly Paganelli, returned $14.20 (third choice) for his ninth win in 26 seasonal starts (second Open Handicap win in last three tries). The exacta paid $95.50, with the triple returning $338.50.
Now, back to Bartlett. The Raceway’s leading driver, who won seven races here Thursday night and three Friday night, had five victories during this night’s 13-race extravaganza. He authored his own personal, $88 Pick-3 by winning races two, three and four. Bartlett, who had nary a race off, then added victories in races six and seven before being shut out in his final half-dozen drives.
Saturday night’s ninth race saw the highest triple return of the season — $21,437 — led by 66-1 Eckstrom (Jim Pantaleano, $134.50) and a 7-8-4 combination.
— Frank Drucker
Blue Boy scores in 1:52.2 in Saratoga Open
Saratoga Springs, NY — Blue Boy has made a significant impact in just two weeks of racing at Saratoga Gaming and Raceway and on Saturday put up a monster effort in the evening’s $17,000 Open.
The Gary Campbell trained 4-year-old made his local debut last Saturday at Saratoga and though he paced in 1:53 it wasn’t good enough to gather in the Open win as the race’s 1-5 favorite. This Saturday, though, it was almost as if the speedy pacer knew he had to do a little bit better than last time and he did.
Overcoming post eight early to get the lead, Denis St. Pierre set fractions of :56.4 to the half before having Blue Boy sprint home in :27.2 to stop the timer in 1:52.2, the fastest race of the year to date at Saratoga.
— Mike Sardella
Lucy Lucy scores again at Tioga
Nichols, NY — In the $10,000 Open Handicap on Saturday night at Tioga Downs it was Lucy Lucy with a new pilot in Corey Braden, but the same outcome at the end of the race with her fifth win in six starts at Tioga.
Braden used the backstretch brush and crush method as the field reached the half-mile mark in :55.4. Lucy Lucy throttled through the third quarter and reached the pole in 1:24. Braden kept her attention around the last turn but the field was already put away and the duo cruised home to victory in 1:53.1. My True Delight (Phil Fluet) got up for second, while Biggest Big Bertha (Kyle DiBenedetto) hung on for third.
It was the seventh win in 19 starts for Lucy Lucy who is trained by Tioga Downs’ leading trainer Mike Deters. With the victory the 5-year-old daughter of Tough Sir-Small Change increased her seasonal earnings to more than $56,000.
Sean Mcaleese, Phil Fluet, and Kyle DiBenedetto posted driving doubles on the night’s nine-race card.
— Dustin Ross
Kevin Switzer, Jr. dominates at Scarborough Downs
Scarborough, ME — Kevin Switzer, Jr. held the hot hand at Scarborough Downs on Saturday as the torrid teamster dominated the closing third of the program en route to engineering a grand slam driving performance.
Switzer began his onslaught late in the card, steering My Special Angel to a speedy 1:57.1 clocking in race eight before scoring back-to-back wins with NF Sinfull (1:57.2) in the ninth.
Switzer then claimed both ends of the late daily double, persevering by a scant nostril with Sams My Name (1:57.1) in the tightest photo finish of the evening before withstanding constant pressure to win a battle of wills in the finale as CG Herb (2:00.2) put away the relentless challenge of Catch The Fella (Drew Campbell).
— Michael Sweeney
Broule Hanover wins by a hair at Ocean Downs
Berlin, MD — The sixth race on Saturday night at Ocean Downs came down to a photo finish. The morning line endorsed Brief And Deadly as the 3-1 favorite for the race. Instead morning line 15-1 underdog Broule Hanover made it to the wire first, be it by a hair.
Starting on the rail, 5-year-old Brief And Deadly took the early lead. The gelding wasn’t passed until the three-quarter marker and made sections at :28.2, :58.3 and 1:28. Sitting in the pocket for most of the race was Amazing Toy, driven by Frank Milby. At the three-quarter marker, Broule Hanover was four lengths back, and that’s where the 5-year-old gelding by Real Artist made his move.
Going three wide and flying through the final turn, Broule Hanover caught up with Amazing Toy. These two horses passed Brief And Deadly and sprinted to the finish line in unison like pace. The photo proved Broule Hanover to have beaten Amazing Toy by a nose. The exciting race winner paid big at $53.20.
His driver and trainer Bryan Truitt felt lucky after the race.
“I feel lucky anytime I get a win these days,” exclaimed Truitt. “I’d have to say that the horse isn’t complete because he never likes to pass. In order to win today he had to pass many horses and he did, so he got it right this evening.”
Amazing Toy and Frank Milby took second place in the race, but Frank couldn’t complain, as he left Ocean Downs with a grand slam. He won Saturday night with Winslow Hustler ($15.40), Badlands Bigboy ($4.20), Driven By You ($3.20) and Grand Photo ($15.80).
— Ozi Menakaya
Keystone Eli upsets in summer curtain closer at Cal-Expo
Sacramento, CA — Closing night of the Spring-Summer meet saw pacers fighting it out at Cal-Expo on Saturday in the $10,000 Summer Hiatus Challenge Invitational Handicap, in which Keystone Eli was fastest of all.
In advance of starting from his assigned post three in the field of seven, driver Lemoyne Svendsen had concerns.
“I was a little worried about him because I didn’t like the way he raced last week because he seemed flat,” stated Svendsen. “As a result, I really didn’t know what to expect this week.”
Leaving and getting the lead just before the field entered the first turn, Svendsen would push the pace a bit with his charge before gladly yielding just before the field had traveled 3-16ths of a mile into a :28.2 first quarter.
“I was liking for sure that I was sitting third at the quarter because the two horses in front of me, Split Ticket (Steve Wiseman) and Dynamite Express (Rick Plano) were the good ones.”
Remaining in the three hole at the half-mile pole, timed in :57.3, Svendsen had reason to be optimistic. “He was very comfortable at the half and had a nice hold of me and seemed very good at that spot.”
With the field now three-eighths of a mile from home, Svendsen had good reason to not get flushed first-over. “The fractions weren’t very fast, plus I was following the two horses I wanted to follow that I knew would blast-off coming into the homestretch.”
Now locked in fifth at the three-quarter marker, timed in 1:27, was Svendsen concerned, especially since one of the two horses he thought would blast-off was pushing him back a little?
“No, not really because I was just going to wait for the stretch.”
On the move into the stretch and angling three and four wide to the seven-eighths pole, Svendsen found himself just 2-1/4 lengths back with an eighth of a mile to go.
“I could feel him starting to get his mo-jo going and halfway down the lane I knew I was a winner.”
Under just hand urging, the 6-year-old would gradually gain until Svendsen gave him one whip urge in deep stretch to secure the victory.
“He was beautiful down the stretch and the one urge I gave him late was more of a jubilation swing.”
Owned by Hei Mitchell and trained by Bob Johnson, Keystone Eli, with Svendsen’s whip high in the air, drew clear on the wire to win ($22.80) by 1-1/4 lengths in 1:55.3, his 22nd career triumph. The pacesetting Split Ticket just held second by a nose over Rich And Roll (Jim Marino), who closed fast late to be third.
“It was a very good race compared to last week. He just showed his class like he always does,” finished Svendsen, who recorded five wins on the card.
— Scott Ehrlich
Arm And A Leg never looks back in Batavia feature
Batavia, NY — It’s not often top Open pacer Arm And A Leg gets to start from the rail but when he does he usually takes advantage of it. That’s exactly what happened when he cruised to victory in the $9,000 Open Pace on Saturday night at Batavia Downs Casino.
On yet another beautiful evening in Western New York, Arm And A Leg, with regular pilot Kevin Cummings in the sulky, moved to the front past the quarter, after letting Set Alight (Jimmy Whisman) go, opened up an insurmountable lead after throwing in a :28.2 third quarter, and romped to a 4-1/2 length win, pacing the mile in 1:55.2 in the weekly pacing feature. Former Downs track record holder Michael Scores, with Jack Flanigen, got caught up in a terrible blindswitch around the last turn but finally shook loose turning for home and closed well to be second while Kermunn (Ron Beback, Jr.), who was first over in the mile, wound up third.
Arm And A Leg ($4.40), a 6-year-old son of Nobleman Sam, notched career win number 30 and raised his lifetime earnings to over $185,000. He’s earned almost $55,000 this year for co-owners Mark Jakubik and John Cummings, Sr., who also conditions.
— Todd Haight