Pocket-sitting Breakheart Pass (Jim Pantaleano) proved best Friday night, winning Yonkers Raceway's co-featured $52,000 Filly and Mare Open Handicap Pace
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In play early from an assigned post position No. 3, Breakheart Pass went around Monochromatic (Cat Manzi), taking over before a :27-second opening quarter. No sooner did Breakheart Pass make the lead than Tomorrowpan (Dan Dube) came at her.
Tomorowpan, parked two turns, gained the advantage right round the :55.2 half, with 4-5 favourite Delightful Diva (George Brennan) stuck outside. Tomorrowpan held the fave off in and out of the 1:23.1 three-quarters, owning a length-and-a-half lead into the lane.
However, the leader was leg-weary soon thereafter. Breakheart Pass pulled pocket before the 1:52.3 mile marker, then outfinished a ground-saving Symphony In Motion (Jeff Gregory) by a length-and-a-quarter in 1:59.4 for the mile-and-one-sixteenth. Delightful Diva was resilient enough to reclaim third after a brutal trip, with Tomorrowpan and Monochromatic earning the final pay envelopes.
For Breakheart Pass, a seven-year-old daughter of Western Hero co-owned (as Burke Racing) by trainer Ron Burke and Weaver Bruscemi, she returned $9.70 (second choice) for her third win in 15 seasonal starts. The exacta paid $64.50, with the triple returning $176.
Friday night's $52,000 Open Handicap Trot saw KLM Express (Jim Marshall III)--in career form--snap Pembroke Prayer (Brennan) on the money.
Assigned penultimate post No. 7, KLM Express watched early as Pembroke Prayer and several others set sail for the lead.
Pembroke Prayer, while three-deep, stepped around both Pointe Of Honour (Pantaleano) and Wuthering Hanover (Jordan Stratton) after a :28-second opening quarter-mile. He then found a :58 half before Get Chipped (Manzi) moved from sixth.
All the while, KLM Express was operating from third-over as Pembroke Prayer passed the 1:26.4, three-quarters and was up a length turning for home. The leader, with the cavalry coming, hit the mile in 1:56.1, but couldn't stave off KLM Express. That one was up late, winning by a neck in 2:03.4 for the added distance. Pointe Of Honour, Calchips Brute (Dube) and 3-2 favourite Neighsay Hanover (Gregory) came away with the remainder.
For KLM Express, a six-year-old homebred CR Excalibur gelding owned by Richard Aiken and trained by William Aiken, he returned $20.60 (fifth choice) for his fifth win in 19 '11 tries. The exacta paid $73, with the triple returning $415.
(Yonkers Raceway)