In an exciting feature highlighted by a cutthroat battle for front-end supremacy, Stellar Yankee took his time and came from the back of the pack to record a thrilling off-the-pace victory, registering a second straight win in the $26,027 claiming handicap for pacers in for price tag of no less than $54,795 and no more than $82,192 on Saturday, Feb. 28 at The Meadowlands.
Winning driver Jordan Stratton was aiming to leave from the gate but aborted that mission. He’s no doubt happy with the way things worked out.
Dream Bird (Joe Bongiorno), the longest shot on the board at 31-1, was sprinting early from the rail in the six-horse field. Boston Bound (Mark Herschberger), the 8-5 favourite, was in the early fray and heading for the front, but Bongiorno was having none of that and commanded Dream Bird to torrid fractions of :25.4 and :52.3, leaving Boston Bound parked for a second consecutive week. Slight 8-5 second choice Soho Santorini A (Colin Kelly) was sitting in the pocket, licking his chops as the top two slugged it out.
Dream Bird clung to a narrow edge on Boston Bound at three-quarters in a remarkable 1:20.4. Kelly swung Soho Santorini A to the outside, but by then Stellar Yankee, who raced three-wide nearing the head of the stretch, got in front of him and stopped that one’s momentum as he mounted a stellar late bid.
Stellar Yankee was airborne through a personal final quarter of :27.4 and swept past the field to record an easy three-length win. In the process, the eight-year-old gelded son of Always B Miki-Somethinginawater lowered his lifetime-best time for a second straight week, this time stopping the clock in 1:49.1. In another incredibly game try, Boston Bound finished second with Mamba (Steve Smith) claiming third.
“I wasn’t invited to go to the front,” said Stratton. “But in a short field, I was able to get out in the stretch. He’s always an honest horse when he comes here to The Meadowlands, and tonight, he gobbled them up.”
Stellar Yankee has now won four of his last 11 starts for owner Howard Jacobs since starting that run of form at the lower conditioned levels in late November. Lifetime, the Cory Stratton trainee now has 34 victories in 197 tries, good for earnings of $535,629. As the 2-1 third choice in the betting, he returned $6.80 to win.
Stratton and Big M leading driver Brett Beckwith topped the driver colony hit parade with two winners apiece.
There were a pair of carryovers on the 14-race card, and one of them took a monstrous amount of action. The 20-cent Pick-5 sported a carryover of $26,400 that motivated players to bet $188,943 of new money into the pool, for a grand total of $215,343. The winners' odds for the sequence were 1-2, 28-1, 1-1, 4-5 and 7-5. William Carter guided longshot Dance It Out to victory in the second race to take down plenty of tickets, but those who did use him and cashed collected a payoff of $1,464.02. The $1 PK 8 continues to roll on, going unhit for a fourth consecutive offering, upping the carryover to $72,337. A sequence where winners' odds were 1-1, 4-5, 7-5, 6-1, 5-1, 2-1, 12-1 and 3-5 proved to be too tough for the masses. Those with six correct collected $63.50.
All-source handle on the 14-race program totalled $3,187,297, marking the second time this year that wagering cleared the $3-million hurdle. Racing resumes Friday at 6 p.m.
(Meadowlands Racetrack)