A pair of three-holes produced a pair of first-up Yonkers Raceway winners, as Always At My Place (George Brennan, $7.40) and Meladys Monet (Jason Bartlett, $5.70) annexed their respective $45,000 co-features.
Always At My Place won the Open Handicap Pace, going up and over Feel The Need A (Eric Goodell) down the backside, then widening to two lengths at the (1:50.2) wire.
Other closers Melmerby Beach (Dan Dube), The Real One (Pat Lachance) and 13-10 favourite Bit Of A Legend N (Jordan Stratton) were second, third and fourth, respectively, while a shuffled P H Supercam (Jason Bartlett) settled for the last loot.
For second choice Always At My Place, a five-year-old Always A Virgin gelding co-owned by trainer Ron Burke (as Burke Racing), Weaver Bruscemi, Larry Karr and Phil Collura, the win was his sixth in 19 seasonal starts. The exacta paid $65.50, with the triple returning $319.
Meladys Monet survived a protracted duel with Luminosity (Brennan), then held off Allerage Star (Dube) to win the Open Handicap Trot by a neck in 1:54.2. Third went to E R Ellie (Stratton), with Luminosity fourth and a never-firing, 3-2 choice Obrigado (Mark MacDonald) placed fifth.
Crazshana (Tyler Buter) did cross the line fifth, but was set down to seventh after just about whacking the kneecaps of Centurion ATM (Steve Smith) in the lane.
‘Melady,’ a seven-year-old Revenue S gelding owned by Melady Enterprises and trained by Kevin McDermott, is now six-for-18 this season. The exacta paid $62.50, with the triple returning $265.50.
(With files from Yonkers Raceway)