Yonkers Raceway’s fourth Sunday card of the season included seven ‘French’ trots, though the featured $50,000 Open Handicap wasn’t among them.
A field of seven (after a defection) were all nose-to-gate going the flat mile, with second choice B Yoyo (Joe Bongiorno, $7.90) picking off 11-10 choice Rose Run Parker (George Brennan) at the wire in 1:56.1.
The eventual winner — from post position No. 2 — was part of an early, three-way scrum also involving Zooming (Tyler Buter) and Red Hot Herbie (Jason Bartlett). It was ‘Herbie’ making the lead (but not the cones) right around a :28.1 opening quarter-mile.
Soon after, Rose Run Parker, who had tucked in behind the early speed, made his second move, taking his turn by a :58.4 half. It was :28.2 down the back (1:27.1) as B Yoyo went after the leader from third. Entering the stretch, Rose Run Parker owned a length lead, but the pursuer was relentless.
B Yoyo was up by a nose, with Red Hot Herbie, Luck O The Irish (Jordan Stratton) and rank outsider Lou Man (Dan Dube) completing the cashers.
The winner hadn’t been seen in Westchester since October of 2015, while the runner-up jump it off in his only previous local try (July 2016).
For B Yoyo, a seven-year-old Striking Sahbra gelding trained by Richard Johnson for co-owners Bill Lambos and Dionisios Liberatos, the win was his third in eight seasonal starts. The exacta paid $25.80, with the triple returning $79.50.
Hemi Seelster (Bartlett, $4.30) also won a nose decision in a $30,000 conditioned trot on the undercard, holding off Newcastle (Dube). The five-year-old Holiday Road gelding notched his first win of the year in 1:56 flat for trainer Richard Banca and owners Howard Taylor and Abraham Basen.
The Sunday ‘New York, New York Double’ offered up a winning combo of 2Shesmyheartandsoul (Aqueduct’s third race) and 1-Ontheroad De Vie (Yonkers’ sixth race), which paid $25.50 for every correct $1 ticket. Total pool was $5,769.
(With files from Yonkers Raceway)