Finals of Petticoat, Sagamore Hill Series

YONKERS, NY, Friday, March 24, 2017 – A pair of series finals share next week's harness racing marquee, with Yonkers Raceway hosting the $61,000 Petticoat (Monday night, March 27) and $61,800 Sagamore Hill (Tuesday night, March 28).

The series were open to 3- and 4-year-old pacers who are/were non-winners of four races or $40,000 through last Dec. 1.

As luck-and the open draw-would have it, Cousin Mary (Jordan Stratton) partakes of the pylons as she goes after Petticoat series sweep in Monday's eighth race. The 4-year-old daughter of Camluck, Ontario-owned by Jeffrey Richardson and trained by Andrew Harris, was a sharp, two-move winner a week ago (series- and life-best 1:54.1) after a pair of solid, open-length winners.

"She knows where the wire is," Stratton said of the lass who's 6-for-8 this season "She's surprised, me, but in a good way."

Northern Soiree (Matt Kakaley, post 8) was the only other multiple-prelim winner, though she obviously needed better help with the pills. The 4-year-old Western Ideal miss, with four wins in eight seasonal starts, is owned by Seth Rosenberg Racing and trained by Scott Blackler.

A Crafty Lady (Dan Dube, post 7), after missing the opening round of this series, drilled her foes last week. The 4-year-old Mach Three miss is owned by Bob Hamather and trained by Rene Allard.

Angels Rockn Pink (Mark MacDonald, post 2), Vintage Babe (Yannick Gingras, post 3), Real Diva (George Brennan, post 4), Rei's Star Cross (Jim Marohn Jr., post 5) and St. Kitts (Jason Bartlett, post 6) round out the field.

Tuesday night's finale of the Sagamore Hill, going as the sixth race, is a showdown among the troika of Prejudice (Stratton, post 1), Never Say Never N (Bartlett, post 2) and Awesomeness (Scott Zeron, post 5).

While each swept their pair of series legs (one round was snowed out), Awesomeness may have been a bit more visually impressive than the other pair. The 4-year-old Mach Three gelding, owned by Martin Scharf and trained by Aaron Lambert, wired his foes (at 1-20) to begin this series, then won first-up a week ago in (1:53.3)

"He's apparently been good from Day One," Zeron said. "There's no bottom to him, he seems to get over the track well and he's very simple to drive." Awesomeness enters Tuesday with six consecutive wins (all at odds-on), including a sweep of Woodbine's Snowshoe Series.

The remainder of the Tribute to Teddy Roosevelt includes Sure Fired Bet (Gingras, post 3), Ideal Son (Brennan, post 4), Wishawasagigolo (Dube, post 6, coupled with Prejudice), Artmagic (Brent Holland, post 7) and Stirling Escort (Kakaley, post 8).

Each series also includes its respective $30,000 consolation.

RACE 8 – Yonkers Raceway – NY – March 27, 2017  Conditions: PETTICOAT SERIES FINAL 3&4 YEAR OLD FILLIES & MARES  Gait: Pace     Purse: $61,000     Class: PETTIFINAL     Distance: 1 Mile     Planned Post Time: 9:30 PM

PP  Horse Med 2017 North America YTD  Driver  Trainer ML Base        Sts  W  P  S  Time  Earnings     Stable Odds Claim

1  Cousin Mary   8   6   1   0   1:54.1H   $67000   Jordan Stratton  Andrew Harris 9-5

2  Angels Rockn Pink L  3   1   1   0   1:56.1H   $16000   Mark Macdonald  John Butenschoen 7-1

3  Vintage Babe   9   5   2   2   1:52.2F   $49010   Yannick Gingras  Edwin Gannon Jr 5-2

4  Real Diva L  9   4   1   2   1:54.3F   $37530   George Brennan  Ron Burke 7-1

5  Rei`s Star Cross   7   2   2   2   1:55.0H   $28175   Jim Marohn Jr  Rob Harmon 10-1

6  St Kitts L  3   1   1   1   1:55.2H   $17400   Jason Bartlett  Richard Banca 6-1

7  A Crafty Lady L  7   3   1   1   1:55.2H   $23075   Daniel Dube  Rene Allard 15-1

8  Northern Soiree L  8   4   2   1   1:56.0H   $55250   Matt Kakaley  Scott Blackler 20-1

AE1  Family Roll Call L  7   0   3   1   –   $20000   Daniel Dube  Chris Ryder

RACE 6 – Yonkers Raceway – NY – March 28, 2017  Conditions: SAGAMORE HILL SERIES FINAL 3&4 YO C,H&G **$10 NYS STARTING FEE**  Gait: Pace     Purse: $61,800     Class: SAGAFINAL     Distance: 1 Mile     Planned Post Time: 8:50 PM     PP  Horse Med 2017 North America YTD  Driver  Trainer ML Base        Sts  W  P  S  Time  Earnings     Stable Odds Claim      1  Prejudice L  8   3   1   1   1:53.0H   $41850   Jordan Stratton  Joseph De Carlo             2  Never Say Never N   FOR: 0 0-0-0 $-   4   4   0   0   1:54.0H   $37000(i)   Jason Bartlett  Heidi Rohr             3  Sure Fired Bet L  6   1   0   0   1:54.2H   $12884   Yannick Gingras  Andrew Harris             4  Ideal Son   3   1   0   0   1:54.3H   $11210   George Brennan  Tom Fanning             5  Awesomeness   7   6   1   0   1:50.3S   $59404   Scott Zeron  Aaron Lambert             6  Wishiwasagigolo L  5   0   2   1   –   $13650   Daniel Dube  Joseph De Carlo             7  Artmagic L  6   2   2   0   1:54.1H   $32500   Brent Holland  Jeffrey Bamond Jr.             8  Stirling Escort L  7   1   3   1   1:54.1H   $36230   Matt Kakaley  Linda Kakaley             AE1  Dakota Jack L  9   4   2   0   1:53.4H   $49800   Daniel Dube  Matias Ruiz

YONKERS’ FRIDAY PICK 5 FEATURES $4,400 CARRYOVER

A friendly reminder from Yonkers Raceway that Friday evening’s (March 24^th) Pick 5 wager starts with a carryover of $4,467.45.  

The Pick 5 is a 50-cent base wager comprising races 7 through 11 (for programs with at least 11 races…if not, then it goes as races 6 through 10).  It has no consolation payoff, meaning if no one selects all five winners (as was the case Thursday night), the entire pool (minus takeout) moves to the next racing program.

Frank Drucker