Brandos Muscle Man lasted on the lead Friday night for driver George Brennan, winning Yonkers Raceway's penultimate-program $35,000 Open Handicap Trot.
In play from post position four, Brandos Muscle Man worked around Master Pine, making the lead before :28.1 opening quarter-mile. A bit of a delayed leave from just-over-even-money favourite Tober landed him in the three-hole. The leader then rated a :30-second interval (:58.1 half) before Tober was again on the move. However, he wasn't doing much for cause going toward the 1:27 three-quarters, with Celebrity Bluechip second-over.
Brandos Muscle Man owned a length-and-a-quarter lead into the lane, and would need much of it. Master Pine ducked inside, with Celebrity Bluechip wide. Neither could get there, as the leader held sway by a diminishing half-length in 1:56.4. It was Celebrity Bluechip winning the bridesmaid battle, with a rallying Mystical Starlight and Great Emancipator grabbing the small change. Tober faded to sixth.
For Brandos Muscle Man, a four-year-old Muscles Yankee gelding owned and trained by Gilberto Garcia-Herrera, he returned $7.30 for his ninth win in 33 seasonal starts.
(Yonkers Raceway)