from harness publicists across North America

Friday’s (May 16) edition of Racing Roundup features results stories from Yonkers Raceway, Vernon Downs, Buffalo Raceway, Scioto Downs and Tioga Downs.

Sears sweeps Friday co-features at Yonkers

Yonkers, NY — Brian Sears used different tactics to produce the same result (ironically with the same payoff) Friday night (May 16), winning both of Yonkers Raceway $38,000 co-featured Open Handicaps.

Mayra Escamilla photo

Fast And Feisty was a wire-to-wire winner in Friday’s co-featured Open Handicap at Yonkers Raceway.

Sears went down the soggy road with Fast and Feisty in the distaff derby. From post position No. 6, she splashed her way through intervals of :29.1, :58.2, 1:27.4 and 1:55.4.

The final margin was three-quarters of a lengths over a stubborn, first-up Hula’s Z Tam (Pat Lachance), with tepid 5-2 choice Fashion Mystery (Eric Carlson), Keystone Wanda (Brent Holland) and Virgin Mary (Matt Kakaley) rounding out the payees.

For Fast sand Feisty, a 5-year-old daughter of Allamerican Native owned by Vincent Apolinario and trained Anthony Skultety Jr., she returned $10.20 (second choice) for her sixth win in 13 seasonal starts. The exacta paid $83, with the triple returning $366.

The week’s marquee trot saw Lorenzo Dream, from post No. 7, launch a big move in and out of the final turn. He continued it through the lane, picking off the leading (:28.1, :57.1, 1:26.4) Itzaziam (Pat Berry) by a length-and-a-three-quarters in 1:57.

First leader Tall Cotton (George Brennan), Fort Valley As (Dan Dube) and Blacktuxwhitesocks (Jordan Stratton) settled for the small change. Southwind Warsaw (Jason Bartlett) jumped it off as the 8-5 favorite, as did eight-hole assignee Super Manning (Kakaley).

Sears ended with four winners on the 12-race card.

For Lorenzo Dream, a 7-year-old Taurus Dream gelding owned by Vincent Laurenzo and trained by Julie Miller, he returned $10.20 (second choice) for his fourth win in 14 ’14 tries. The exacta paid $61.50, the triple returned $448.50 and the superfecta paid $1,698.

— Frank Drucker

Vernon Downs
A Penny Earned certainly earned a hard-fought victory in the $10,000 Open Trot feature on a cold and rainy Friday night (May 16) at Vernon Downs. A Penny Earned sat the pocket trip for the majority of the mile right behind the betting favorite, Tirade Hanover. Tirade Hanover assumed the lead following an opening quarter-mile of 27 seconds. He then showed the way through a half-mile of 58.2 and three-quarters in 1:26.4 over the sloppy track. However, upon arriving at the top of the stretch, Tirade Hanover drifted away from the inside and A Penny Earned shot through the opening and surged to win in 1:56 flat. Chris Lems handled the drive expertly, patiently waiting for just such a seam. War Hero finished third after an unfortunate trip. War Hero had been third through the early stages and was shuffled back at the inside on the final turn as far back as fifth. He re-rallied through the lane and got up for third to complete the $65.62 trifecta for the 50-cent minimum. The complete order of finish for the feature was A Penny Earned, Tirade Hanover, War Hero, Evil Urges, House Money, Michelangelo, Pine Credit, and My Revenuer. The winner, A Penny Earned, is owned by Alfred Ross, George Ducharme, Nicola Oliva of Massachusetts, and Paul Fontaine of Rhode Island. George Ducharme doubles as the trainer of A Penny Earned.

Buffalo Raceway
BZ Glide found it easy pickings in the featured $8,400 Open II Trot at Buffalo Raceway Friday night (May 16) and strolled to a three length win over Absolutely Certain in 1:58.4 over the fast track. After finishing a solid second last week in the Open Trot, losing by a mere 3/4 lengths in his 2014 debut, BZ Glide (Mike Caprio) dropped to a softer level this time around and proved to be much the best against the five other participants. The race set up perfectly for BZ Glide. Ramblin Rick, who hooked up with Keystone Bernard in a front-end speed duel, put up times of 28.3, 57.4 and 1:28.3. Those wicked fractions proved to be costly as BZ Glide, who started his first-over journey just before the half-mile marker, took command just before the three-quarter pole and trotted away like a 1-5 shot should. The lone battle in the stretch was for second place as Absolutely Certain (Ron Beback Jr.) finished three lengths behind the throttled down BZ Glide ($2.70) while Armed Dangerously (Ray Fisher Jr.) took third. It was the first win of the season for BZ Glide, who is owned by Mike Caprio and is trained by Alana Caprio. It was the 11th career win in 39 starts for the 5-year-old gelding.

Scioto Downs
A field of 8 mares competed in Friday (May 16) Night’s Open II Pace for a purse of $18,000. All the mares in the race had lifetime marks of 1:53 or faster and their combined earnings total $2 million. Up Front Kellie Jo left hard from post 8 and cleared to the front just passed the quarter in 27 and she would be the pace-setter. Betterluvnexttime, driven by Ronnie Wrenn Jr, were content to take a pocket trip behind Up Front Kellie Jo. Mama Said went a tough first-over trip and laid the pressure on Up Front Kellie Jo, tripping the three-quarters in 1:24.3. Ronnie Wrenn Jr could wait no longer and pulled the mare to the outside three-wide and she set sail. The 6-year-old mare crossed the wire in 1:53.3, pacing her final quarter in 28.4, fending off late bids from Mama Said and A Sham Of Amber, who completed the trifecta. Betterluvnexttime is a 6-year old mare by American Ideal. She’s conditioned by Scioto Downs leading trainer, Virgil Morgan Jr and owned by Daniel Mitchell of Novi, Michigan.

Tioga Downs
Newcomer Little Santamonica’s ($3.50) 1:52.0 victory in the featured $14,000 Miracle Mile 1 distaff pace was the highlight of a driving hat trick for Aaron Byron, who propelled himself to the top of the Tioga Downs leaderboard with a three-win night on Friday (May 16). With Southwind Trini (Jim Marohn, Jr.) calling the early shots, Byron brushed to the fore with Little Santamonica through a sensible :28.2 first quarter. The 6-year-old Little Steven mare never looked back from there, accelerating clear on the far turn and being driven to hold a 2-1/4 length margin over Southwind Trini at the winning post. Sinspirational (Mike Simons) stayed on in traffic to finish an even third. Byron also scored driving wins with Paystobea Meangirl (1:58.3) and Crazyboutdadrummer (1:56.0) on the evening’s 10-race card.