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Harness racing driver Jordan Stratton won four races on Thursday night (September 29) at Yonkers Raceway, with the third of them representing the 5,000th victory of his career.
Last yearās leading driver at Yonkers, Stratton captured race three with Poppy Drayton N, a 9-year-old Bettorās Delight mare, for his brother and trainer Cory in 1:55.1 and then teamed up with Dennis Laterzaās E R Hilary, an 8-year-old daughter of Always A Virgin, to take the fourth dash in 1:56.1.
That put Stratton on the verge of his milestone, and he wouldnāt have to wait long, as Reachthruthesky AS, a 4-year-old McArdle mare, took the sixth race in 1:53.3 to give him #5.000. Stratton would then get started on the next thousand by taking the nightcap with Darran Cassarās Starlit Rambo, a 3-year-old Jailhouse Jesse gelding, in 1:56.1.
Stratton is second in the standings this year at Yonkers and during his driving career his charges have earned over $87.2 million.
REACHTHRUTHESKY AS REPLAY
In the 8th race Filly & Mare Open Handicap Pace, Mcmarkle Sparkle (McArdle) and driver George Brennan swept three-wide from sixth place at the top of the stretch to score an upset victory.
Easy To Please (Jordan Stratton) was the early leader after getting parked out to the first quarter in :26.3 by Delitfulcatherin N (Jason Bartlett).
They then raced single file to the half mile in :55.1 before Westbeach and driver Brent Holland came first-over, giving outside cover to Siesta Beach (Austin Siegelman) with Mcmarkle Sparkle third-over at the three-quarters in 1:24.2.
Down the stretch they all came at Easy To Please, who began to fade, and then fastest of all from sixth place was 16-1 Mcmarkle Sparkle, who went on to win by one and three-quarter lengths in 1:53.2. Siesta Beach was second with Delitfulcatherin N third.
MCMARKLE SPARKLE REPLAY
It was the third straight win and ninth victory of the year for Mcmarkle Sparkle, who is trained by Scott Di Domenico for owner Laura Baker, who bred the mare with Paul Baker. She paid $34.00 to win.
In other news from the Thursday card, nobody had six-of-six in the Pick 6, resulting in a carryover of $3,463.04 on Friday nightās (September 30) program. A $1 base wager, the Pick 6 begins every night in the third race and has a takeout rate of 20 percent.
Starting next week, Yonkers will switch to a six nights per week schedule, with racing on Monday through Saturday. That format will continue until the week of October 17 when Saturday becomes a dark day and the oval returns to racing on a Monday-Friday basis. Post time is 6:55 p.m.
For complete race results, click here.
From Yonkers Raceway, with files from Steve Wolf
