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YONKERS SATURDAY FEATURES ALL-AGE TRACK RECORD, $100 TROTTER

YONKERS SATURDAY FEATURES ALL-AGE TRACK RECORD, $100 TROTTER
BY FRANK DRUCKER, Publicity Director, Empire City @ Yonkers Raceway

YONKERS, NY, Saturday, July 25, 2015-Yonkers Raceway had no stakes races Saturday night, but that in no way meant the card was ordinary.

Not with an all-age track record in the $48,000 Open Handicap Pace and a 49-1 bombardier in the equally-valued Open Handicap Trot.

picture by Sean Hamrock

Up first was Crombie A (Brian Sears, $5.60), who earned his place in the record book with the fastest mile ever in Westchester not involving plane, train or automobile. Leaving from post position No. 4 as the 9-5 favorite, Crombie A had no choice but to watch as Forty Five Red (George Brennan) threw down the gauntlet...

...as in :26.3, :54.2 and 1:21.4.

If Forty Five Red was done off those numbers, he didn't get the memo. Texican N (Eric Carlson) was closing ranks from a loose pocket, while Crombie A, floating off the cones from fourth in an understandably gapped-out field, was hitting his best stride.

Forty Five Red had a length-and-a-quarter lead into the lane, but the fractions were finally catching up with him. He hung tough, but faltered late. Crombie A ended up outgaming Texican N by three-quarters of a length in a life-best 1:50.1.

Forty Five Red held third, beaten a length-and-a-half, with In Commando (Eric Goodell) and McErlean (Tyler Buter) rounding out the payees.

The Crombie A effort extricated Sapphire City (2012), Fat Man's Alley (2013) and Sunfire Blue Chip (2014) and their 1:50.2 miles out of the "all-age" box, as well as the venerable Silver Almahurst (1993) and Keystone Velocity (2014) and their 1:50.4's from the "aged horse" section.

For Crombie A, a 9-year-old Down Under son of Life Sign co-owned (as Allard Racing) by (trainer) Rene Allard, Kapildeo Singh and Albert Abdala III, it was his fifth win in 16 seasonal starts (5-for-7 in his stateside career). The exacta paid $55, with the triple returning $194.

The week's marquee trot saw 49-1 rank outsider Rock of Cashel (Goodell, $101.50) find himself pocketed from post No. 2.

photo by Sean Hamrock

He watched as Dewycolorintheline (Jordan Stratton) and a first-up Boffin (Sears) dropped the imaginary gloves (:29, :58.3, 1:27.2). "Dewy" owned a short lead into the lane, and was about to win the battle, but lose the war.

Rock of Cashel edged inside and by, with the winning margin a length in 1:55.4. Dewycolorintheline photoed Boffin for second, with Backstreet Hanover (Larry Stalbaum) and Rossini (Jeff Gregory) settled for the small change.

For Rock of Cashel, a 5-year-old son of Majestic Son trained by Mark Harder for co-owners Jeffrey Ruch and Alan Richardson, it was his fourth win in 21 '15 tries. The exacta paid $529, the triple returned $6,736 and the superfecta paid $23,455 (base $2 payout, 10-cent ticket worth $1,172.75).

Note that since no one took down Saturday's Pick 5, Monday's gimmick begins with a carryover of $4,100.44 and a $10,000 guaranteed pool (50-cent base wager, races 7 through 11, with program pages available at www.yonkersraceway.com).

The Raceway's live season continues Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday (all at 7:10 PM), with a "French-centric" Tuesday matinee (first post 1 PM). Evening simulcasting accompanies all night programs, with afternoon simulcasting available daily.

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