Jacob Stillwell stormed off the speed with Judge Ken to claim a 2:00.1 victory as the longest shot on the board in the North American Amateur Drivers Association (NAADA) Trot on Thursday night (May 11) at Yonkers Raceway.
Leaving from Post 5, Judge Ken overcame a first-quarter kerfuffle caused by the break of favourite Dark Pool (Tony Beltrami) to race fifth through a :28.1 first quarter. Call Me Thefireman (Anthony Verruso) avoided the trouble and led the field unpressured to a :58 half with King Jimmy (Scott Keppler) sitting the pocket and Drazzmatazz (Robert Krivelen) in third.
Call Me Thefireman continued coasting along to three-quarters in 1:28.1 and soon had King Jimmy looming from the pocket. Meanwhile, Judge Ken raced 11-1/4 lengths off the leader to the far turn, but quickly began making gains. In a final-quarter crawl, Judge Ken burst onto the scene and slammed the hammer on late leader King Jimmy to draw clear by 2-1/2 lengths and win at odds of 37-1. Drazzmatazz held third and Call Me Thefireman faded to fourth.
Anthony Regina conditions Judge Ken, a seven-year-old gelding by Justice Hall, for owner Regina Racing Stable LLC. He paid $77 to win.
NAADA action concludes next Thursday (May 18) with the $15,000 Spring Series Final at Yonkers Raceway. First-race post time at Yonkers is 7 p.m. (EDT).
(NAADA)