The Ontario-owned and bred Friendly Amigo (Jason Bartlett) took it the distance Friday night, winning Yonkers Raceway's co-featured $38,000 Open Handicap Trot
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Leaving from post position No. 5, the lone lass worked around 8-5 choice Donttellmywife (George Brennan), grabbing the lead before a :28.3 opening quarter-mile. After a :58.2 intermission, Hurrikanebiggeorge (Dan Dube) left the three-hole for his second move.
However, a :28.1 third quarter (1:26.3) kept that challenger at bay, and Friendly Amigo owned over a length lead into the lane. She easily held sway, defeating the pocket-sitter by a length-and-a-quarter in 1:55.3. Hurrikanebiggeorge, Play Fair (Pat Lachance) and KLM Express (Jim Marshall III) completed the cashers.
For Friendly Amigo, a four-year-old homebred daughter of Amigo Hall co-owned by Bob Burgess of Campbellville and Karin Olsson Burgess of Milton, Ont. and trained by Kevin Johnson, she returned $15 (third choice) for her fifth win in 18 seasonal starts. The exacta paid $49, with the triple returning $130. That effort was one-fifth away from the track standard (Victors Vicky) for the four-year-old mare weight class.
Friday night's co-featured $38,000 Filly and Mare Open Handicap Pace saw pole-sitting--and odds-on--Cuz She Can give Bartlett a sweep of the storylines.
After stuffing Breakheart Pass (Yannick Gingras) in behind, Cuz She Can set sail through intervals of :28.1, :57.1, 1:25.2 and 1:53.2. Queen Of Heaven N (Marshall III) couldn't get close first-up, while Ubetterthink Think (Dan Dube) gapped a three-hole.
That provided the populace with a old-fashioned match race, with Cuz She Can beating Breakheart Pass by a half-length. "Ubetterthink," Headpoles R Us (Ryan Anderson) and Queen Of Heaven N rounded out the payees. Western Graduate (Brennan), assigned the eight-hole (other seven posts drawn by lot), had a brutal trip and backpedaled to last among the octet.
For Cuz She Can, a five-year-old Cambest lass trained by Kevin McDermott for owner Fran Azur of Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, she returned $3.80 for her 10th win in 26 '10 tries. The exacta paid $12.40, the triple returned $70.50, and the superfecta $423.
(With files from Yonkers Raceway)