Tony Beltrami blew away his peers and Robert Krivelin rallied furiously late to win their respective $18,714 divisions of the North American Amateur Drivers Association (NAADA) Winter Series opening preliminary at Yonkers Raceway on Thursday, Jan. 23.
Beltrami bagged the first division with a pillar-to-post romp behind 5-2 chalk Ima Standup Guy in a 2:00.3 mile. Once clearing the lead out of post six past a :29.1 first quarter, Ima Standup Guy swelled and scooted clear of his rivals moving for a 1:00 half. He opened five lengths on pocket-chaser Raceace (driven by Alan Schwartz) motoring for three-quarters in 1:29.2 and strolled for the finish wrapped up to register a 5-1/2-length win at the beam. Raceace held second ahead of Hobbs (Victoria Stratton), who followed through the mile for third, and Exchequer (Jacob Stillwell) grabbed fourth.
Scott Di Domenico trains Ima Standup Guy, a six-year-old gelding by Archangel, for owners Joe Faraldo and Triple D Stables Inc. He paid $7.60 to win.
Robert Krivelin and Velociraptor later overhauled 6-5 favourite Draco S (Victoria Stratton) in the closing strides to score in the second NAADA division in a 2:00.3 mile. Krivelin settled his charge to race fourth while All Rise (Beltrami) barreled from the pylon post to the point and carried the field through opening sectionals of :29.2 and 1:00. Pocket-sitter Draco S pulled from the pylons moving up the backside and battled with All Rise to three-quarters in 1:30 while Krivelin steadily advanced up the inside. In the stretch, Velociraptor found open road and zipped forward to seize the lead from Draco S by a half length to win. Bacardi (Andrew Adamczyk) sat a pylon trip for third and Lionhead (Yogi Sheridan) closed for fourth.
Cote Keim co-owns and trains Velociraptor, a five-year-old gelding by Father Patrick, with Hero Stables. He paid $5.30 to win.
The NAADA Winter Series continues at Yonkers Raceway next Thursday (Jan. 30) and features six preliminaries total. Yonkers will host the NAADA Winter Series final on Thursday, Mar. 6. First-race post time at Yonkers is 7 p.m. (EST).
(NAADA)