Nandolo N rallied from off the pace to take Monday's featured $48,000 Open Handicap Pace at Yonkers Raceway, winning in 1:51.3 in rein to Jason Bartlett.
Stars Align A and Brent Holland blasted to the top from post one, and when Leonidas A and Austin Siegelman moved up to try and take the lead past the :28.1 opening quarter, Holland elected to leave Leonidas A on the outside. Stars Align A and Leonidas A battled through middle-half fractions of :55.1 and 1:22.3, with Micky Gee N and Jim Marohn Jr. following Leonidas A from second-over and Nandolo N positioned third-over.
On the final bend, Marohn Jr. cut Micky Gee N three-wide and Bartlett fanned out four-wide with Nandolo N, and in the stretch it was Nandolo N who had the freshest legs and the best kick, as he hit the front midway through the lane and then pulled clear to prevail by a 1-3/4 lengths. Leonidas A held second despite the tough trip, and Funatthebeach N and Jordan Stratton rallied from seventh to third in the last quarter.
Nandolo N is a seven-year-old Betterthancheddar gelding trained by Shane Tritton for owner Team Tritton Inc. This was Nandolo N's 11th career win and he has now earned $233,851. Nandolo N was the 2-1 second choice and paid $6.90 to win.
The $42,000 Preferred Handicap Pace went a tick faster than the Open Handicap Pace, as 6-5 favourite Splash Brother and driver Tyler Buter clicked in 1:51.2.
Shadow Cat and Siegelman made front from the pole position and carved out panels of :27, :55.3, and 1:23, but Splash Brother made a first-over move out of fourth after the half that carried him into second before three-quarters. After looming to the outside of Shadow Cat around the last turn, Splash Brother hit top gear in the stretch and he would go by the pacesetter on his way to a 2-3/4-length decision. Shadow Cat held second over a gaining The Wild Card and Stratton.
Trainer Ray Schnittker also co-owns Splash Brother, a four-year-old So Surreal gelding, with partners Nolamaura Racing LLC, Steve Arnold and Tammy Flannery. Splash Brother has a record of 11-11-7 from 37 trips behind the gate. He returned $4.50 to win.
There were no tickets that went six-for-six in Monday night's Pick 6 sequence, resulting in a carryover of $4,474.89 on Tuesday night's program.
Yonkers Raceway's 12-race program on Tuesday night gets underway at 7:15 p.m., with the Pick 6 starting in race three. The card is highlighted by four $35,000 divisions of the second leg of the Pop-Up Series for pacers who are non-winners of $20,000 in their last five starts.
(With files from Yonkers)
Something else occurred in
Something else occurred in last night's Open Handicap at Yonkers which wasn't mentioned in this article, but I don't think it's ever happened at a North American racetrack before: Every single horse in the race was from down-under. There were 6 "N" horses and 2 "A" ones.