Feelin Red Hot (George Brennan, $5.80) successfully authored another installment of ‘Catch Me If You Can’ Friday night (August 23), winning Yonkers Raceway’s $46,000 Filly and Mare Open Handicap Pace.
Wasting no time from post position No. 5, Feelin Red Hot worked around Wisdom Tree (Dexter Dunn) before a :27.3 opening quarter-mile. Out in :57.2 and home in :54.2 (1:24.4, 1:51.4) figured to make it difficult for the pursuers, and it did.
Wisdom Tree and Alexas Power (Jim Marohn Jr.) wound up inseparable for second, behind three-quarters of a length.
A belated 6-5 favourite Betterb Chevron N (Jordan Stratton) and Miss You N (Brent Holland) rounded out the payees, while Mach It A Par (Eric Goodell) received lovely parting gifts.
For second choice Feelin Red Hot, a six-year-old daughter of Feelin Friskie co-owned (as Burke Racing) by trainer Ron Burke and Weaver Bruscemi, the win was her 11th in 26 seasonal starts (career 30-for-101, now up over a half-million dollars). The exactas paid $8.30 and $9.50, the triples returned $31.60 and $33.60, and the superfectas paid $72.50 and $68.50 (payoffs listed with Wisdom Tree second, then with Alexas Power second).
For his part, Brennan won half of the evening’s dozen races.
Friday night’s Pick 5, which began with a $8,800-plus carryover and $20,000 guaranteed pool, attracted $33,582 of new coin into the gimmick. It was a 3/6/5/4/4 winning combination returning $206.50 for each correct half-a-buck wager.
The NAADA $15,000 Summer Series Final was a barn-burner when only three lengths separated the winner from the last place finisher. And Joe Pennacchio's 1:59.3 triumph in the event didn't come easy.
Up behind his own Cheeky Little Minx in the seven-horse contest, which was presented before the first race on the betting card, Pennacchio left the gate from the five-hole and his veteran trotting mare never saw the pylons the entire mile and by all standards she went a very gutsy trip.
When the gate sprung, Joe Faraldo and Tough Get Going darted to the front and were challenged by Paul Minore and Wygant Prince. Faraldo yielded command to Wygant Prince as Pennacchio and Cheeky Little Minx wanted a part of the action and challenged on the outside as the leaders trotted by the first stanza in :28.2.
As they headed for the halfway point, Pennacchio and Minore were going at it and the two raced side by side to the half in :58.2 while being stalked on the outside by Cheeky Little Minx.
Wygant Prince showed the way to the three-quarters and put away Tough Get Going but the veteran trotter couldn't shake the plucky little mare. As they rounded the final turn, Cheeky Little Minx and Wygant Prince were noses apart before the latter began to fade. At that point, Hannah Miller hustled Jacks To Open up alongside Cheeky Little Minx and the two raced as a team all the way to the wire. It took a photo to determine that Pennacchio's mare was a head better than Miller's veteran trotter. Broadway Bruiser took home the show dough for Matt Zuccarello.
The Raceway opens for simulcasting Saturday (August 24) at 11 a.m. in advance of Saratoga Race Course’s first post of 11:35 a.m. Post time for the $1.25 million Travers Stakes (11th race) is listed at 5:44 p.m.
(With files from Yonkers Raceway & NAADA)