Sapphire City (Jason Bartlett, $8.60) and Backstreet Hanover (Larry Stalbaum, $10) shared the glory Saturday night, winning Yonkers Raceway’s co-featured $48,000 Open Handicaps.
Pole-assigned Sapphire City won the weekly pacing feature, chasing Forty Five Red (Mark MacDonald) before whipping him in a two-speed number (:27.4, :56.1, 1:24, 1:51.4). The final margin was a medium-sized nose a season’s-best effort. The Real One (Pat Lachance) was a belated third as the 7-5 favourite, with Frankies Dragon (Dan Dube) and E Z Noah (Brian Sears) completing the cashers.
For second choice Sapphire City, a seven-year-old millionaire Metropolitan gelding trained by Paul Blumenfeld for co-owners Centaur Stables and Jordan Sklut, it was his fifth win in 26 seasonal starts. The exacta paid $35.20, with the triple returning $150.
The week’s marquee trot saw the lass Backstreet Hanover -- from post position No. 5 -- move from seventh turning for home to win going away. The margin was two and a quarter lengths in a season’s-best 1:55.2. Rock Of Cashel (Tyler Buter) rallied for second with ABC Muscles Boy (Eric Carlson), Skates N Plates (MacDonald) and Tober (Jason Bartlett) settling for the remainder. The latter two mixed it up early (:27.4, :57.1, 1:25.4), helping the cause of the closers. Tepid 7-2 fave Theraputic (Joe Bongiorno) was a non-factor seventh.
For third choice Backstreet Hanover, a seven-year-old daughter of Andover Hall trained by Chris Marino for owner David Hamm, it was her fourth win in 19 ’15 tries. The exacta paid $115, the triple returned $744 and the superfecta paid $4,716.
(Yonkers Raceway)