733 Yonkers Ave., Suite 102, Yonkers NY, 10704  Phone: 914-968-3599   Fax: 914-968-3943  
Latest News: Standardbred Owners Association of New York

ROCKIN' IN HEAVEN--ONE HOT HORSE--EYES NEW YORK SIRE STAKES TITLE

ROCKIN' IN HEAVEN--ONE HOT HORSE--EYES NEW YORK SIRE STAKES TITLE
BY FRANK DRUCKER, Publicity Director, Empire City @ Yonkers Raceway

YONKERS, NY, Thursday, September 10, 2015-Not there ever a bad time to be racing well, but for Rockin' in Heaven, he's certainly picked a dandy time to get good.


The 3-year-old son of Rock N' Roll Heaven looms a player Saturday night, with Yonkers Raceway hosting the New York Night of Champions (Part I). Four, $225,000 sire stakes finals of soph boys and girls, pacers and trotters go as races 5 through 8 (first post 7:10 PM), with each race sponsored by a prominent Empire State breeding farm.


Rockin' in Heaven landed post position No. 2 in the last of the quartet, Blue Chip Farms Pace. Dr. Ian Moore, the man behind the likes of Shadow Play and State Treasurer, co-owns (with Douglas Polley, Francois Lecomte and Gordon McComb) and trains. The Good Doctor has imported one of Ontario's leading chauffeurs, Trevor Henry, for a rare Yonkers appearance.

According to the U.S. Trotting Association's Anne Chunko, Henry has one previous career Westchester work night, a 2010 excursion driving an eight-hole, 90-1 shot (Quantum Cashman) in a NYSS event.

So, why is Henry crossing the border Saturday?

'Cause Rockin' in Heaven is good. He enters with three wins in his last four starts, including an 11-1 upset in the $290,000 final of the Empire Breeders Classic (Tioga, life-best 1:50). Henry himself did the recent honors, a wire-to-wire, 1:53 NYSS effort at Batavia where he was parked three-deep making the lead.

"He's a nice horse," Henry said en route to Mohawk Thursday night. "He can be lazy and he never wins by much, but he's progressed.

"When Ian (Moore) first started with him, he said he couldn't get a lot out of him," Henry said. "I think it wasn't until his win in (June's division of the) Somebeachsomewhere (Mohawk, 1:50.3) that we finally started to see the sort of colt he was."

Enough to get his driver to cross customs, at the very least.

For the season, Rockin' in Heaven-a $40,000 Harrisburg yearling-has eight wins, four seconds and a third in 15 starts ($310,565). His current form spree began here, sticking his tongue out at the wire in an $84,187 NYSS sire stakes division early last month.

Rockin' in Heaven has certainly learned his craft well after a three-win, $14,000-plus season as a frosh.

New York Night of Champions (Part II), with four, $225,000 sire stakes finals for the 2-year-olds, goes Saturday, Sept. 26th. This is the first-time in the NOC's 26-season history that it has been a two-night production.
-30-
(photo by Sean Hamrock)

(FFI…Frank Drucker, Yonkers Raceway Publicity Director, 914-968-4200)

Frank Drucker
Director of Publicity
810 Yonkers Avenue
Yonkers, NY 10704
Phone: (914) 457-2432
E-mail: FDrucker@YonkersRaceway.com


Send this story to a friend    News Archives