Favoured Newborn Sassy (Jordan Stratton, $4.30) stalked, then starred, from second-over Friday night (Sept. 29), winning Yonkers Raceway’s $50,000 Filly and Mare Open Handicap Pace.
Unhurried early form post position No. 6 (in one notch after a defection), Newborn Sassy saw Betabcool N (Eric Goodell) throw down a reasonable early gauntlet (:27.2, :56.2).
Delightful Dragon (Brent Holland) then moved from fourth going toward a 1:24.2 three-quarters.
Betbacool N had a length and a half to play with in and out of the final turn, but playtime was about to end. Newborn Sassy launched around her stagnant tow, then mowed down the leader. The margin was three-quarters of a length in a flat 1:53. Betabcool N held second over a pocketed Dewar N Soda (Eric Abbatiello), with Lispatty (George Brennan) and a returning Divas Image (Pat Lachance) rounding out the payees.
For ‘Sassy,’ a four-year-old daughter of Western Ideal co-owned by trainer Jim King Jr. and CC Racing, the win was her seventh in a dozen seasonal starts (career earnings in excess of $700,000). The exacta (two wagering choices) paid $12.60, with the triple returning $98.
(Yonkers Raceway)