Some Or Lis was the longest shot on the board in the featured $7,200 Open II Handicap Pace at Vernon Downs on Saturday night, but that did not prevent him from storming past the entire field to score an upset win in 1:51.4.
The early stages of the race featured a speed duel between You Bet Your Glass (Frank Davis) and I Do Hanover (Chris Lems), who was parked on the outside for the majority of the mile. Those two set some fast fractions early on, covering a quarter in :25.4 and a half in :53.4. That early speed ended up being the undoing of the duo, both of whom finished out of the top three.
After hitting three-quarters of a mile in 1:22.4, You Bet Your Glass and I Do Hanover faded in the stretch and Some Or Lis (Claude Huckabone III) came all the way from last in the field of six at the top of the stretch to win at 20-1. The second-longest shot in the field, The Green Knight (John MacDonald) at 14-1, finished second. The exacta ended up paying $240 with the two longshots comprising it. Buckeye Baddler (Truman Gale) sat behind the early speed battle in third position and started to rally through on the inside in the stretch as the leaders fell back, but the closers also passed him by and he had to settle for third.
The complete order of finish was: Some Or Lis, The Green Knight, Buckeye Baddler, I Do Hanover, You Bet Your Glass, and Stonebridge Master.
Some Or Lis (Lis Mara-Grabbersome) is owned by Richard Dow of Holland Patent, New York and trained by Stephen Marsh.
The driving star of the night was John MacDonald, who scored three victories and three seconds on the 11-race program. He was a winner with Bandini in the first race, MacKenzies Bliss in the seventh race, and Thats Ideal in the ninth race. He was second with The Green Knight in the second race, Beignet in the eightth race, and Tactical Attack in the 11th race.
There is no live racing on Thursday with a concert being held by Jerrod Niemann and Love & Theft. The concert benefits The Food Bank of Central New York. Tickets are available for $15 and the Chairman of American Racing and Entertainment, Jeff Gural, will be personally donating $10 for every ticket sold to the Food Bank of Central New York with a goal of raising $100,000 to benefit the Food Bank.
Live racing will resume at Vernon Downs on Friday, July 4 with a 6:45 p.m. post time. The Friday program will feature the first leg of the Racing Under Saddle Series. There will be a special July 4th fireworks display following the conclusion of the live racing program.
(Vernon Downs)