Rank outsider Silent Swing, driven by Brent Holland, upset the apple cart Saturday night, winning Yonkers Raceway's $52,000 Open Pace
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The field, reduced to a half-dozen when the two outside entrants (Hypnotist and Mr Massimo) came up ill, saw 22-1 Silent Swing leave alertly from post position No. 4. Pole-sitting Valentino (Pat Berry) then moved to claim frontsies right at the :27.1 opening quarter-mile. Valentino rated a soft, :29.2 second quarter (:56.3 half) before 6-5 favourite One More Laugh (catch-driver Dan Dube) took out of third. That one went up and over the leader at the 1:24.3 three-quarters, taking a length-and-three-quarter lead into the lane.
Silent Swing, however, was able to slip out and go after the new leader before the 1:52 mile marker. The longshot caught and passed the public choice, widening out late. Silent Swing won by a length-and-a-half, getting the mile-and-one-sixteenth in 1:59. Southern Allie (Jim Pantaleano), Valentino and Shoobees Place (Cat Manzi) completed the cashers, with Ideal Matters (Jordan Stratton) racing for the spirit of the competition.
For Silent Swing, a nine-year-old Northern Luck gelding co-owned by trainer Mark Ford and David Shea of Campbellville, Ont., he returned $46.40 for his eighth win in 22 seasonal starts. The exacta paid $147, with the triple returning $574. The winner now sports career cash in excess of $1.7 million.
(With files from Yonkers Raceway)