Not Afraid (Dan Dube, $11.80) lasted on the lead Sunday afternoon, winning Yonkers Raceway’s $32,000 Open Handicap Trot.
Looped leaving (from post position No. 4) by outside entity Major Athens (George Brennan), Not Afraid did make the lead before a :28.4 opening quarter-mile. He rated a :58.4 intermission before 3-5 choice Crazshana (Jason Bartlett), who had left into a four-hole, was moving again.
The fave engaged the leader in and out of a 1:27.3 three-quarters, but Not Afraid was not done. He held a short lead off the final turn as Crazshana grudgingly gave way. Major Athens ducked inside with every chance, but missed by a nose in 1:56.1. Crazshana was third, beaten a half-length, with Swishnflick (Mark MacDonald) and Zooming (Tyler Buter) settling for the minors.
For third choice Not Afraid, a seven-year-old S Js Caviar gelding trained by Jimmy Takter for co-owners Christina Takter, John Fielding and Goran Anderberg, the win was his third in five seasonal starts. The exacta paid $58.50, with the triple returning $162.
Sunday’s “French” trot feature was the $26,000 opener, won by Dot Dot Dot Dash (Kakaley, $12.60) in 2:26.2 for the mile-and-a-quarter distance.
This was the third Sunday matinee of the season, with two scheduled consecutively for March 13 and 20 (first post for both will be 1:10 p.m. as of this writing).
The Raceway’s live season continues Monday night (first post 7:10 p.m.), with a dozen races and a $10,000 guaranteed Pick 5 pool (50-cent based wager, races seven through 11, program pages available at yonkersraceway.com).
(With files from Yonkers Raceway)