A ‘from-last favoured’ Top Flight Angel (Brian Sears, $5.40) won with gusto on Sunday afternoon (Aug. 26) at Yonkers Raceway, as the 2017 Yonkers Trot winner captured the track’s featured $44,000 Open Handicap Trot.
The dash was contested at the distance of one mile, right before Yonkers’ four added-distance ‘French’ races.
Top Flight Angel sat last after having started in the outside Post 6. Rose Run Sydney (driven by Jim Marohn Jr.) reached the lead first after having looped Mostinterestingman (Jordan Stratton). The latter then went around as ‘the happy half-dozen’ went past the quarter-mile marker in :27.3.
The second quarter was then trotted in :29 – the half-mile timer flashed to life in :56.3 – before Andy Ray (Jason Bartlett) made a move from fifth. That proved to be a solid tow for Top Flight Angel, especially when Andy Ray rolled right over a non-resistant Mostinterestingman at the 1:25.4 three-quarters pole.
Andy Ray owned a short lead into the lane, but he, too, was about to be dismissed. Top Flight Angel went right by before posting a two and three-quarter-length victory in 1:54.3.
Second place went to a badly-shuffled Rose Run Sydney. Andy Ray, Fashion Creditor (Brent Holland) and Elysium Lindy (George Brennan) rounded out the payees, respectively. Mostinterestingman finished last. The exacta paid $19.60, the ‘triple’ returned $68.50, and the superfecta paid $216.
Top Flight Angel’s win was the 9,999th driving victory of Brian Sears’ career.
Top Flight Angel is a four-year-old son of Archangel that is owned by Legendary Standardbred Farm and trained by Julie Miller. Top Flight Angel’s Sunday victory was the third win of his nine-race seasonal campaign.
Sunday’s chorus of the ‘New York, New York Double’ featured a winning combination of 1-Hokulea (Saratoga’s first race) and 4-Ursis Des Caillons (Yonkers’ third race), which returned $49.25 for every correct $1 ticket. The total pool was $7,258.
The next Sunday matinee at Yonkers will take place on September 2 (post time for the card to be announced).
(With files from Yonkers Raceway)