Yankee Manny scores in Open at Vernon Downs

Vernon, NY — Brian Green’s Yankee Manny became the initial four-time winning trotter of the season at Vernon Downs following his career-best 1:53 victory in the featured attraction during Wednesday afternoon’s special Independence Day program.

Fotowon photo

Yankee Manny (#3) was a narrow winner in the Vernon Open.

With trainer Frank Davis at the controls in Wednesday’s $10,500 Open contest, the favorite Yankee Manny ($4.80) drafted along in third for most of the sixth race, and then accelerated through the pylon path in the final sixteenth to defeat the fast-closing Spring Goal by a nose. The pacesetting Manningly was a length back in third.

Wednesday’s determined effort tied Yankee Manny with the pacer Miracle Freeluck as the 30-program meet’s only four-time winning equines through that point in the day.

The Brett Tessler-owned trotter My Buddy Hall Lee then followed suit in the afternoon’s eighth event, while extending his current winning streak to a meet-longest four straight.

Yankee Manny’s triumph marked his sixth season’s score and his 25th lifetime win. The 6-year-old son of Yankee Glide-Yankee Minuet now sports career earnings of nearly $143,500.

Drivers Rick Plano, Brian Connor and Frank Milby each registered a pair of first-place finishes during Wednesday’s 11-race card. At day’s end, Plano enjoyed a 49-46 advantage over Chris Lems in Vernon’s current dash-winning derby.

— Jim Moran

Tioga Downs
Tioga Downs held a special July 4th racing program on Wednesday night in front of more than 3,500 patrons and featured four divisions of the king of the $4,000 claiming pacing series. Blue Boy (Mike Merton) posted the fastest clocking of the four divisions, winning gate-to-wire in 1:53.1. The 7-year-old son of Real Artist–Millie Blue cut through fractions of :26.4, :56.1, and 1:24.2 before opening up on the field with a final panel of :28.4. Joe Agostino trains Blue Boy for Ian Fromowitz. Fox Valley Roper (Kyle DiBenedetto) captured the second division of the two-week pacing series, scoring his fourth straight win at Tioga Downs in 1:53.2. The 12-year-old son of Sportsmaster–Put The Boots won for the sixth time in 13 seasonal outings and the time established a new lifetime mark in his 150th career start. The top two finishers in each division, along with one third place finisher (drawn by lot), will come back on Friday (July 13) for a $10,000 final.