Foreign Officer, driven by Jordan Stratton, was on his game Saturday night, winning Yonkers Raceway's $33,000 Open Handicap Pace
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Leaving from post position No. 5 as the 7-5 favourite, Foreign Officer paid the price to get around Electrofire (Pat Lachance) after a :27.3 opening quarter-mile.
He then found a :55.3 half, all the while contending with a parked out Gallant Yankee (Brent Holland). Sea Venture (George Brennan) looked to move wide around that one as Foreign Officer moved past a 1:24.3 three-quarters.
The leader was a length and a half to the good turning for home, needing only to hold off the challenger on his back. Foreign Officer did, beating Electrofire by three-quarters of a length in 1:53.2. A from-last Tobago Cays (Jeff Gregory), Here We Go Again (Jason Bartlett) and Grab Your Keys (Larry Stalbaum) grabbed the remainder.
For Foreign Officer, a five-year-old Western Ideal gelding co-owned by David Rovine, Melvin Hartman, J L Benson Stables and Foreign Officer Partners and trained by Tony Alagna, he returned $4.90 for his first win in four seasonal starts. The exacta paid $26.40, with the triple returning $261.
Also, Saturday night props go to Rock To Glory (Brennan, $2.40), who won the $27,000 Preferred Handicap Pace in 1:51.3. That was the fastest local mile of the season to date and matched the track record for four-year-old geldings.
(Yonkers Raceway)