Wayne the Lefty, driven by Larry Stalbaum, was up in the final strides Saturday night, winning Yonkers Raceway's $33,000 Open Pace
.
Leaving from post position No. 3, "Wayne" slid into an early pocket as 11-10 favourite Real Nice (Jason Bartlett) led the way through intervals of :27.3 and :56.1.
MacRaider N (George Brennan) was offering just mild competition in and out of the 1:24.1 three-quarters, with Real Nice taking a seemingly comfortable length and a half lead into the lane.
However, he was bearing in and Wayne The Lefty was bearing out. In the end, "Wayne" stuck his tongue out when it counted, prevailing in the match race by a nose in a life-best 1:51.3. That effort also matched Rock To Glory's fastest local mile of the season.
Third went to a season-debuting Clear Vision (Tyler Buter), with invading Rampage Jackson (Jordan Stratton) and B Js Bequia (Mark MacDonald) rounding out the payees.
Wayne The Lefty, a five-year-old Allamerican Ingot gelding owed and trained by Lester Gelardi Jr., returned $8.70 (second choice) for his third win in 10 seasonal starts. The exacta paid $22.60, with the triple returning $61.50.
(Yonkers Raceway)