A pair of down-the-roaders — Great Vintage and Taco Tuesday — were the Saturday night standouts, winning Yonkers Raceway’s pair of $55,000 co-features.
Great Vintage started inside his rivals in the blind-draw Open Pace, then took it the distance (:27.2, 56.4, 1:24.4, 1:52), though not without an elongated scrum with Blood Brother (Bartlett),. That one, having left into a three-hole, went after the leader in a big way.
It was a back-half match race, with Great Vintage holding sway by a determined nostril for driver Dan Dube. Orillia Joe (Brent Holland) held third—beaten 3-1/2 lengths—with Roland N Rock (Jordan Stratton) and Te Kawau N (Brian Sears)
For Great Vintage, a nine-year-old millionaire son of American Ideal trained by Jimmy Takter for co-owners his wife, Christina, John Fielding and a pair of Gorans (Anderberg and Falk), it was his first win in a seven seasonal starts. He paid $4.00 to win.
Despite ‘losing’ the post position Nos. 3 through 7 draw, Taco Tuesday and driver Jason Bartlett gave nothing else a shot (:28.2, :57.2, 1:25.4, 1:54.2) in the Open Handicap Trot. The result was the fastest local trot mile of the season.
Springbank Sam N (Stratton) chased from the pocket, missing a length. It was more than six lengths back to eight-hole assignee Barn Doll (Jeff Gregory), with Showmeyourguns (Tyler Buter) and Pridecrest (Holland) settling for the minors. Red Hot Herbie (Dube), as the 11-10 fave, was an outrun sixth, beaten just a pair of breakers.
For second choice Taco Tuesday, a four-year-old Cantab Hall gelding owned by Vincent Laurenzo and trained by Andrew Harris (off a barn change), it was his fifth win in nine ’17 tries. He paid $6.40 to win.
(Yonkers)