from the Standardbred Owners Association of New York

Yonkers, NY — Despite the end of the stakes season and the approach of winter, the high quality Yonkers racing product remains as consistent as ever. As testament to this fact, there is no better action-packed card in the United States than the one to be conducted this Saturday night (Dec. 10) at Yonkers Raceway.

What delights many an owner looking over the 96 horses that will compete are the 2011 money earnings posted by these campaigners. Those numbers reveal 52 of the trusty steeds with earnings in excess of $100,000 and, of that number, four have earnings in excess of $200,000.

At the controls of these six-figure earners will be members of the sport’s deepest drivers’ colony. Along with Brian Sears, George Brennan, Jason Bartlett, Hall of Famer Cat Manzi and a host of other veterans, the very talented Tim Tetrick has joined the fray.

Tetrick’s appearance at the Hilltop Oval last Saturday saw him take home four wins. Brian Sears matched that number, and together they took two-thirds of Yonkers’ 12-race card, not to mention a nice piece of change for the owners and trainers. In fact, Saturday evening’s program offered a whopping $299,000 in purses.

Extremely talented horses and extremely talented drivers make racing as competitive as it can get. It also poses a tough handicapping challenge, even for the SOA’s own Hilltop Helper which can be found on the Yonkers website and on Twitter. Still, the punters try as hard as they can, and actually wagered over $1 million on the first Saturday card in December.

Overnight horsemen want ample opportunity to race for top purses 12 months a year. Gamblers want to be offered the best horses and drivers around. Once again, Yonkers proves that year round racing doesn’t mean quality of product, human or equine, needs to ever take a back seat.