Odds-on favourite Panagler and driver George Brennan toughed it out on a soggy lead Friday night, winning Yonkers Raceway co-featured $52,000 Filly & Mare Open Handicap Pace
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Assigned post position No. 4, Panagler stepped around longshot Feeling You (Jordan Stratton) before getting hounded by Im Just Special (Dan Dube). Panagler then put up waterlogged weigh stations of :27.1, :55.2 and 1:23.4. Im Just Special was predictably backing away, while Delightful Diva (Jim Pantaleano) couldn't catch that parked-out tow.
Panagler, with a length-and-three-quarter lead turning for home, needed only to hold off the lass on her back. The leader did just that, passing the mile marker in 1:53 and getting the mile-and-one-sixteenth in 2:00.4. She defeated Feeling You by a neck, with Dont Blame Her (Brent Holland), Delightful Diva (Jim Pantaleano) and Im Just Special rounding out the payees as the backfield closed ranks late.
For Panagler, a four-year-old daughter of No Pan Intended trained by Bob McIntosh for Peter Pan Stables, she returned $3.30 for her third win in nine seasonal starts. The exacta paid $25.40, with the triple returning $318.
Friday night's co-featured $52,000 Open Handicap Trot saw invading Pilgrims Chuckie (Dube) do his damage from the pole.
After Pembroke Prayer (Stratton) and Neighsay Hanover (Jeff Gregory) both left, "Chuckie" then moved from third. He grabbed the baton in turn two -- after a 28-second opening quarter-mile -- then led the way through intervals of :57.2 and 1:26.1. Whata Winner (Jim Doherty) moved from fourth -- barely -- doing nothing for the cause of 2-1 choice Calchips Brute (Brennan).
Meanwhile, Pilgrims Chuckie, with a length-and-a-half lead entering the lane, hit the mile in 1:55.3. He finished the job, holding Pembroke Prayer a bay by a length in an added-distance 2:02.4. Calchips Brute, Neighsay Hanover and KLM Express (Jim Marshall III) grabbed the minor moolah.
For Pilgrims Chuckie, a four-year-old son of Broadway Hall owned by John Cancelliere and trained by Tom Cancelliere, he returned $6.40 (second choice) for his second (consecutive) win in eight '11 tries. The exacta paid $62.50, the triple returned $175.50 and the superfecta paid $660.
(Yonkers Raceway)