Super Stratton scores six

Driver Jordan Stratton dominated Friday harness racing action at Yonkers Raceway with six victories in the day’s 11 dashes.

After missing by a neck in the first race, Stratton earned his first win of the day behind Zagster in the second. The Middletown-based reinsman ordered the eight-year-old son of Muscle Mass to execute a third-quarter brush to the front, which was the decisive move in the 1:59.1 score.

Stratton immediately doubled with Thereisapaceforus, who capitalized on his second-over positioning and won in 1:56. It was a family victory: Stratton’s brother Cory trains and co-owns the 10-year-old American Ideal gelding.

Jordan Stratton took another tight loss in the fourth after Society Jill (Jim Marohn Jr.) nabbed his Beachblanketlindy at the finish, but he bounced back with a clinical steer in the fifth. Stratton placed Trump This in fourth, slid him out onto cover in the third quarter, and the five-year-old Airzoom Lindy gelding slingshotted to a 1:57.2 score.

Stratton resumed his dominance with a natural triple after an Austin Siegelman double the sixth and seventh. Stratton slotted Halo Its Me into the pocket early and followed until pulling her out on the final turn and urging the mare to defeat a late-closing Grey. Halo Its Me, a five-year-old daughter of Archangel, secured her first win of the year after 19 tries by a head in 1:58.1.

Itzpapalotl gave the driver his fifth win by springing out of the pocket in mid-stretch and rolling by Natasha (Marohn) for a 1:53.3 victory. Itzpapalotl is a sophomore American Ideal filly.

While Stratton capped off six wins by sending Mufasa As, a five-year-old Lionhunter gelding, wire-to-wire in 1:57.2 in the 10th, he missed a seventh in the final strides in the 11th. He was a nose short of another front-end victory as Western Hill and Daniel Dube reached up to nail his Bilbo Hanover on the line. Stratton’s combined margin of victory in the first, fourth, and 11th was less than half of a length.

He padded his cushion atop the drivers’ standings, adding six to his pre-existing 176. George Brennan is his closest rival with 155 wins to date.

Yonkers Raceway features a $45,000 Open Pace in its next card of racing on Thursday, Jul. 29. The track will begin the first of its 11 scheduled contests at 7:15 p.m. EDT.

For full race results, click here.

by Nicholas Barnsdale, for Harnesslink