Yonkers Raceway ended the first half of 2015 with its largest win payoff of the season.
It was big balloons, or gros ballons for the French audience Tuesday afternoon, when 72-1 Jesses Story ($146) overcame Post 12 in the second tier to win the $21,000, eighth-race trot.
Jordan Stratton, or Jordan Stratton for the French audience, did the honours as Jesses Story won the mile-and-one-quarter event in 2:28.3. The five-year-old daughter of Jailhouse Jesse is trained by Mike Forte for Rags to Riches of PA. She defeated 3-2 favourite Dreamsteeler (Jason Bartlett) by a neck, with 18-1 Time Will Tell All (Tyler Buter) third.
In addition to the biggest win mutuel of the season (Hypnotists $136.50, also driven by Stratton, was the previous target), this race produced the largest exacta ($1,394) and what would have been the largest triple had it required all three finishers to cash. As it turned it, the 12-2-all combo returned $14,021.
Not surprisingly, the Tuesday Pick 5 went unclaimed, so Thursday’s gimmick begins with a carryover of $1,984.48 (50-cent base wager, races 7 through 11).
(Yonkers Raceway)