Yonkers Raceway Friday night hosts its 16th and final leg of New York Sire Stakes competition with the $156,200 Lew Barasch Trot for two-year-old colts and geldings.
Of course, this is the final chance to electrify the electorate before the $1.8 million New York Night of Champions here a week from Saturday (Sept. 22nd).
Friday’s event once again honours the memory of ‘Tootie,’ the sport’s quintessential PR man and unsung hero behind the huge, back-in the-day success of the International Trot.
The first ($77,400) grouping goes as the fifth race, with Thunder (Jason Bartlett, post 2) and Chip Chip Conway (Jim Taggart, Jr., post 4) again opposing one another. The pair finished 1-2 at Vernon late last month, the former’s third sire stakes win in his last four starts.
Thunder, a son of Conway Hall, is trained by John Butenschoen for co-owners Crawford Racing, VIP Internet Stables and Jeremey Day. The frosh bankroll of $113,121 dwarfs that of his rivals, though his previously-mentioned nemesis has put away $73,119.
Chip Chip Conway has a win, three seconds and a third in five (NYSS) tries adding the straps. The Conway Hall gelding is co-owned by (trainer) Gary Messenger and Kenneth Weckstein.
The evening’s second ($78,800) statebred sojourn sees divisional beast Gimpanzee (Brian Sears, post 6) display his perfect 5-for-5 ($126,958) record.
They haven’t come within sniffing range of Gimpanzee, whose ‘slimmest’ margin in the five wins — all in NYSS completion — has been 2-3/4 lengths. He aired here from an eight-hole last month in 1:57.3 and returns off a life-best 1:54.3 number at Vernon. The son of Chapter Seven is trained by Marcus Melander for Delray Beach co-owners Courant Inc and S R F Stable.
Chapter Fashion (Bartlett, post 4) also won a statebred event here and has hit the board in all but one of his six tries.
Post time for the dozen-race card is the evening standard of 6:50 p.m.
(Yonkers)