When Leonidas A makes his Yonkers Raceway debut Friday night (Sept. 4) in the $18,000 pacing feature, it will end a long wait for owner Steve Finklestein of Jesmeral Stable and trainer Sheena McElhiney.
An Australia-bred five-year-old by Mach Three, Leonidas A was purchased by Finklestein this spring as a Yonkers prospect, but owing to interruptions in travel caused by the coronavirus pandemic, he was marooned in his home county until this summer.
Leonidas A moved to the David Aiken stable in Australia and continued to race Down Under. He finished first or second in nine straight races at Tabcorp Park Menangle, Shepparton, and Bendigo between March 14 and June 26. Leonidas A's streak included a 1:51 7/10 victory at Bendigo June 6, which established a track record for the 1,650-meter distance at the Victoria oval, and two second-place finishes to Australian pacing star and three-time Group 1 winner Lochinvar Art.
“With all the restrictions and the tracks being closed down, we couldn’t get him over right away,” McElhiney said. “One of (Steve’s) lifelong friends, David Aiken, took over training. He broke some track records there and we were excited to get him over here because we knew the calibre of horse he is.”
Leonidas A was finally exported to the United States July 6. He received some downtime after arriving in McElhiney’s stable, but acclimatized quickly and was back to work in short order. Leonidas A proved himself to be a professional on the track once his training resumed.
“Obviously, we couldn’t wait to get him over here. The time we had to wait for him just seemed like forever. Just watching him race over there, he’s a really good calibre horse,” McElhiney said. “When he came here, he looked great, he was in great shape, he adjusted pretty well. He had a winter coat already when he came over. We gave him a little time and let him hang out in the paddock and just be a horse before we started really training him down again.
“He had been racing pretty consistently over there,” she continued. “It wasn’t too tough to get him back into shape. He’s a nice horse to train. He went right out on the track like he’d been here forever.”
Leonidas A qualified Aug. 7 at Yonkers Raceway with Jason Bartlett in the sulky. Leonidas A raced in third for the first six furlongs before moving to the lead and powering away from the final with a :27.4 final quarter to win the trial by 12-1/4 lengths in 1:55. McElhiney then entered Leonidas A to race at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono Aug. 20.
“He qualified well, Jason was happy with him. The plan was to race him at Yonkers, but we could get him in (at Pocono) right away. We decided to put him in there.”
Leonidas A drew post seven and faced a Grand Circuit-quality field that included Filibuster Hanover, Western Joe, Dancin Lou, San Domino and Southwind Ozzi in his first American start. Although he was dismissed at odds of 39-1 and got away seventh, Leonidas angled to the outside on the backstretch and latched onto third-over cover. Bartlett angled Leonidas A four-wide into the stretch, and he paced past San Domino and Dancin Lou to finish third — individually clocked in 1:48.4 with a :27 final panel.
“The plan was to just race him easy his first start and then bring him to Yonkers. I think he had to go a little bit more than we expected, but he definitely didn’t disappoint,” McElhiney said. “Just watching, I knew he was the horse that we thought he was. He came out of it great, no issues with that. He just did it easy. Jason said he wasn’t pushing him, he was kind of doing his thing out there. It was nice to have him go out there in the first start and be impressed with him. It makes you excited for the rest of the year, for sure.”
Leonidas A drew post two in the Friday pacing feature at Yonkers, for horses who have not won $25,000 in their last five starts. Jason Bartlett will drive again and the pair are 2-1 on the morning line.
The field includes Hudson Phil, who won the Saratoga open pace in his last start Aug. 25, Heaven’s Gait, who won two straight at this level July 17 and 31 before finishing fifth in the local open Aug. 21, and Caviart Luca, who won the local open handicap pace two back Aug. 7. Speed Man, Rodeo Rock, Capozzo, and One Off Delight complete the lineup.
“We trained (Leonidas A) Tuesday and went a slow trip with him because we put the miles on him jogging,” McElhiney said. “When we train him, he’s just two fingers and really easy. He’s a little bit lazy, but you chirp to him a little bit and he’s ready to go.
“Steve has some quality horses, but this one is pretty special.”
Yonkers Raceway’s revised schedule features live harness racing Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday (Sept. 8-10) and New York Sire Stakes Night of Champions on Saturday, Sept. 12. First post time is 7:12 p.m.
(SOA of New York)