by Don Bielak, publicity director, Freehold Raceway

FREEHOLD, NJ – – Strong Yankee, with Brian Sears at the reins, scored an easy victory in the $108,090 Charles I. Smith Memorial trot at Freehold Raceway on Friday and became harness racing’s newest millionaire in the process.

Strong Yankee took the lead approaching the quarter mile mark and set fractions of 29, 58.3, 1:28 on his way to a dominating, six length tally in a final time of 1:58 over the sloppy racing surface. Clearaway (Ray Schnittker) passed tired horses for the place spot. A late-arriving Miracle Yankee (Yannick Gingras) finished third, seven and three-quarters lengths behind the winner.

Trained by Trond Smedshammer, Strong Yankee closed as the 1-9 favorite and recorded his fifth win in 15 starts this year. The three-year-old son of Muscles Yankee took down the $54,045 winner’s share of the purse for his owner, Strong Yankee Stable, which elevated his lifetime earnings to $1,031,532.