Dragon Said takes $39,000 Open in romp

Dragon Said and harness racing driver Joe Bongiorno cut loose from start and never looked back in scoring a five-length romp in winning the $39,000 Open Handicap Pace Monday at Yonkers Raceway.

Leaving from post four, Dragon Said pushed off the starting gate in the tenth race feature along with Speed Man N (Jason Bartlett), but Dragon Said was on a mission and stuffed Speed Man N into the pocket-seat. They went by the first quarter in :27.1.

No one made a move as Dragon Said led the field past the half mile marker in :56, still holding the field at bay heading into the backstretch. Diamondbeach (George Brennan) tried coming first-over with Tyga Hanover (Jordan Stratton) second-over to the three-quarters in 1:23.3.

It was too little too late as Dragon Said and Bongiorno opened up daylight on the field, winning with ease in 1:51.2. Co-race favorite Leonidas A (Austin Siegelman) closed well to be second with Speed Man N third.

DRAGON SAID REPLAY

It was the first win in just two starts this year for Dragon Said. The five-year-old gelding by Well Said is trained by Jenn Bongiorno and owned by Robert Devine of Freehold, NJ. He paid $4.80 to win.

While he had to settle for third in the Open Handicap, Bartlett did his share of posing for pictures on Monday, as he was the winning driver in half of the 12 races. He teamed with trainer Gareth Dowse to take the sixth with Kinnder Jackson, the ninth with Joesstar Of Mia A, and the nightcap with Jojo’s Place. Bartlett’s other victors were Runrunjimmydunn N (trained by Doug Dilloian Jr.), Shoreview (sent out by Tahnee Camilleri), and Cyclone Banner N (a Jeff Cullipher pupil).

Cyclone Banner N’s 55-1 upset in the fifth dash was the key to the night’s Pick 6 sequence going unsolved, and as a result, there will be a $6,166.72 carryover in that wager on Tuesday night (March 1). There was just one winning ticket in the Pick 5, with that lone sharp handicapper collecting a return of $15,836.50.

For the second time in less than a week on a racing program at Yonkers, wagering topped seven figures, ending at $1,006,005.70.

Tuesday night’s 11-race card gets underway at 6:55 p.m.

For full race results, click here.

by Steve Wolf, for Harnesslink