Standardbred Owners Association of New York

733 Yonkers Ave., Suite 102, Yonkers NY, 10704 Phone: 914-968-3599 Fax: 914-968-3943

Latest News: Standardbred Owners Association of New York

Lumberjack Willie scores in Yonkers feature

Lumberjack Willie scores in Yonkers feature
Sunday, January 19, 2014 - by Frank Drucker, publicity director, Yonkers Raceway

Yonkers, NY---Lumberjack Willie (Jordan Stratton) prevailed from the two-hole Saturday night (Jan. 19), winning Yonkers Raceway's $33,000 Open Handicap Pace.

Assigned post position No. 2, he was sequestered second behind 7-10 choice Sapphire City (Eric Carlson.) That one led through early intervals of 27.3 and a flat 57 seconds.

Mayra Escamilla Photo
Lumberjack Willie scored in 1:52.4.
Not a whole of grief from a first-up Safe Harbor in and out of a 1:25.1 three-quarters, and Sapphire City owned a length-and-a-half lead into in the lane. However, the people's preference was unable to close the sale. Lumberjack Willie dove inside, and Escape the News (George Brennan)--who was gapping Safe Harbor down the backside--saw the memo late.

Lumberjack Willie beat Escape The News by a length in 1:52.4. Third went to a closing P H Supercam (Jason Bartlett), with Sapphire City and Dinner Guest (Dan Dube) completed the cashers.

For Lumberjack Willie, a 7-year-old Lumber Hanover gelding owned by Tom Ceraso Jr. and trained by Jack Franklin, he returned $12.40 (third choice) for his first win in a two seasonal starts. The exacta paid $48.80, with the triple returning $321.

The race before the Open Handicap saw the largest exacta of the new season. After 16-1 Grab Your Keys (Stratton) held off 96-1 Militia Man in the $15,000, fifth race pace, the 5-8 gimmick returned $2,413.

Saturday night props to Nob Hill High (Carlson, $18), who became harness racing's newest millionaire. The homebred (Robert Mondillo and Donald Robinson) 8-year-old son of McArdle, trained by Bruce Saunders, skimmed the cones to win the $20,000, ninth-race pace. The 34th lifetime victory was timed in 2:01.3 for the mile-and-one-sixteenth.

For the second consecutive night, no one took down the Pick 5. So--drum roll, please--Monday night�s Pick-5 features a $25,000 guaranteed pool (including a $10,368.68 carryover). Past performances are available for perusal at www.yonkersraceway.com.

News Archives