by Frank Drucker, Publicity Director, Empire City at Yonkers Raceway

Yonkers, NY — Such An Angel (Brian Sears, $14.60) did it quite well Sunday afternoon (July 15), winning Yonkers Raceway’s featured $54,800 Open Handicap Trot.

The weekly trotting feature went as the late-morning opener, the first of four, 1-1/4 miles, bigger-field ‘French’ forays.

Katy Gazzini photo

Such An Angel holds of the late advance of Marion Marauder to capture the feature at Yonkers Raceway on Sunday.

Away third from post position five, Such an Angel saw lass Weslynn Dancer (Jason Bartlett) serve as the 28-second opening act before yielding to a wide-early In Secret (George Brennan). The one’s lead in the polls continued through a :57.2 half before Such an Angel moved with purpose.

The challenger took over right by the 1:27 three-quarters, then opened up some overcast daylight.

While this was transpiring, an out-every-step Marion Marauder (Scott Zeron), as the 1-2 favorite, continued to advance from his eight-hole impost. However, he found himself with too much work to do as Such An Angel—after a 1:55 milepost— widened to 3-1/4 lengths in and out of the final turn.

The leader finished it off in a good-track 2:24.2…matching the distance record for a 4-year-old gelding (Hemi Seelster). Marion Marauder trimmed the final margin by a 1-1/4 lengths while easily second. In Secret, Mostinterestingman (Steve Smith) and Charmed Life (Mark MacDonald) grabbed the minors.

For third choice Such An Angel, a previously-mentioned 4-year-old (statebred Credit Winner) gelding owned by Sam Caruso Jr. and trained by Hunter Oakes, it was his sixth win in 15 seasonal starts. The exacta paid $32.80, the triple returned $113.50 and the superfecta paid $714.

Sunday’s final seasonal Belmont rendition of the ‘New York, New York Double’ featured a winning combination of 1-Hay Field (Belmont’s third race) and 2–Beach Memories (Yonkers’ 10th race) returned $20.20 (hindsight?) for every correct $1 ticket. Total pool was $5,673.

The next Sunday matinee is July 22 (post time TBA).