More than $400,000 in purses was up for grabs during New York Sire Stakes action last night at Yonkers Raceway.
The $181,368 Lew Barasch Trot for two-year-old colts and geldings was contested in a trio of $60,456 divisions.
Strong Hope (driven by Jason Bartlett) skimmed the cones in the opening event and got by prohibitive favourite Shaq is Back by a maiden-breaking head in 2:02.3.
For Strong Hope, a Dan Daley-trained son of CR Excalibur, returned $22.20. The exacta paid $61, with the triple returning $209.
The second division saw Carnegie, the 3-10 post time choice, reach the opening half in :57.3 before backing up. Thus, the door was left open for the Jessica Okusko-trained Credit Winner colt Blacktuxwhitesocks (Jeff Gregory), who was sitting second early, to prevail in a life-best 1:59.3.
R C Serpent, the 3-5 post time favourite driven by Dan Daley, captured the third of the Lew Barasch divisions by one length in 2:02.1
The $219,654 Jim Crawford Pace for three-year-old colts and geldings was nattily divided into a pair of $109,827 events. Favourites Handsome Harry (Jim Morrill, Jr.) and Diamond Stick Pin (Jeff Gregory) each got the job done in their respective divisions.
The state-bred events honoured the memories of two men that were instrumental in the success of New York harness racing, albeit in different vocations.
Barasch was a longtime publicity icon at Roosevelt Raceway, then a Yonkers Raceway consultant, then a Harness Hall of Famer. He was the brains behind many of the promotions during the sport's heyday, most notably the wildly-popular International Trot.
Crawford was a major force in the Harness Horse Breeders of the New York, serving for a time as that organization's president. He also operated one of the state's preeminent breeding farms in central New York (Canastota).
(With files from Yonkers)