Lumberjack Willie, driven by Jordan Stratton, prevailed from the two-hole Saturday night, 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.
Not a whole lot 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. '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) completing the cashers.
Lumberjack Willie, a seven-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) eight-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 yonkersraceway.com.
(Yonkers Raceway)