After an accident at Yonkers Raceway two weeks ago sidelined Mark MacDonald, the O'Brien Award winning driver returned to the winner's circle for the first time since that spill with the same horse involved in that accident. And thanks to the horsemanship of driver Jason Bartlett, a second incident was narrowly avoided.
MacDonald returned to action on July 3 with a pair of drives at Vernon Downs, and returned to the winner's circle on July 4 at Goshen Historic Track with Ray Schnittker trainee Knoxville, who took top honours with a 1:57 mile to lead the 12-race New York County Fair Stakes card of harness racing to kick off Hall of Fame weekend.
A two-year-old son of Huntsville-Lets Fall In Love, Knoxville set fractions of :29.4, :59.4 and 1:28.3 before sprinting home in :28.2 to defeat Southwind Clovis by 10-1/2 lengths in a $5,274 County Fair Stakes event. Trainer Schnittker shares ownership with Milton Leeman, Louis Palumbo and Ted Gewertz.
MacDonald and Schnittker also teamed up to capture the other $5,274 rookie colt pace when Artistic Lover rated fractions of :30.2, 1:00.3 and 1:31 before evading pocket rival Wonka Bar to win by a length in 1:59.4. Schnittker co-owns the Huntsville-Marie Has Moore colt with Country Club Acres, Gewertz and Joe Sbrocco & JAF Racing.
Jason Bartlett led all drivers with three wins, partnering with three-year-old trotting filly Bourbon Cream for a 2:01.2 score, one of two on the card for trainer Dylan Huckabone-Miller. Bartlett also won with three-year-old trotting gelding Devious Lad (2:02.3, trainer Janice Connor) and three-year-old pacing gelding Southwind Rodan (1:59.3, Joe Chindano Sr.).
Bartlett showed his smooth hands and nerves of steel after his win with Bourbon Cream, as the filly spooked in the winner's circle and the driver — in an effort reminiscent of a famous clip involving U.S Hall of Famer Ron Pierce at The Meadowlands — maintained his grip and kept the trotter from running loose.
"Heart in my throat," said Bartlett's wife, Kristen, in a social media post. "Jason came out luckily with minimal scratches."
Other winners included rookie pacing filly Imdagirlofurdreams (2:05), sophomore trotting colt Cheques In Limbo (2:00), freshman trotting filly Lucky Ellie (2:03.3), three-year-old male pacer Stepo Aside Butch (2:02), sophomore pacing fillies So Delicious (1:59.1) and Gold Leaf (2:01.1) and two-year-old male trotter Met On Gait (2:14).
Racing continues at Goshen Historic Track on Saturday (July 5) with an 11-race card featuring Landmark Stakes for three-year-olds of both gaits, New York Excelsior Series events for three-year-old pacers, and a C.K.G. Billings amateur driving trot. First post is 1 p.m. (EDT).
(Standardbred Canada, with files from Goshen Historic Track)