NAADA Winter Series kicks off at Yonkers

YONKERS, N.Y.— Tony Beltrami blew away his peers and Robert Krivelin rallied furiously late to win their respective harness racing divisions of the North American Amateur Drivers Association (NAADA) Winter Series opening preliminary at Yonkers Raceway on Thursday night (Jan. 23).

Beltrami bagged the first division with a pillar-to-post romp behind 5-2 chalk Ima Standup Guy (Archangel) in a 2:00.3 mile.

Once clearing the lead out of post 6 past a :29.1 first quarter, Ima Standup Guy swelled and scooted clear of his rivals moving for a 1:00 half. He opened five lengths on pocket-chaser Raceace (driven by Alan Schwartz) motoring for three-quarters in 1:29.2 and strolled for the finish wrapped up to register a 5-1/2-length win at the beam.

Raceace held second ahead of Hobbs (Victoria Stratton), who followed through the mile for third, and Exchequer (Jacob Stillwell) grabbed fourth.

IMA STANDUP GUY/TONY BELTRAMI REPLAY

Scott Di Domenico trains Ima Standup Guy, a 6-year-old gelding, for owners Joe Faraldo and Triple D Stables Inc. He paid $7.60 to win.

Robert Krivelin later overhauled 6-5 favorite Draco S (Victoria Stratton) in the closing strides to score in the second NAADA division with Velociraptor (Father Patrick) in a 2:00.3 mile.

Krivelin settled his charge to race fourth while All Rise (Tony Beltrami) barreled from the pylon post to the point and carried the field through opening sectionals of :29.2 and 1:00. Pocket-sitter Draco S pulled from the pylons moving up the backside and battled with All Rise to three-quarters in 1:30 while Krivelin steadily advanced up the inside. In the stretch, Velociraptor found open road and zipped forward to seize the lead from Draco S by a half length to win. Bacardi (Andrew Adamczyk) sat a pylon trip for third and Lionhead (Yogi Sheridan) closed for fourth.

VELOCIRAPTOR/ROBERT KRIVELIN REPLAY

Cote Keim co-owns and trains Velociraptor, a 5-year-old gelding, with Hero Stables. He paid $5.30 to win.

The NAADA Winter Series continues at Yonkers Raceway next Thursday (Jan. 30) and features six preliminaries total. Yonkers will host the NAADA Winter Series final on Thursday, March 6. First-race post time at Yonkers is 7 p.m. (EST).

For complete race results, click here: US Trotting results.

by Ray Cotolo, for the NAADA