Longest shot on the board takes $36,000 Open

Credit Con (Credit Winner), the longest shot on the tote board at odds of 36-1, used outside cover to sweep into contention and then come on in the stretch to capturing the $36,000 Open Handicap Trot Thursday (March 23) at Yonkers Raceway.

The 2^nd race feature began with HL Revadon (Yannick Gingras) and race favorite Nows The Moment (Austin Siegelman) leaving from the outside with HL Revadon getting to the lead but Nows The Moment stumbling on the turn and going off-stride.

That left HL Revadon alone on the lead with Grey (Matt Kakaley) sitting the two-hole trip as they passed the opening quarter mile in :27.4. They raced single file to the half mile marker in :57.

Then on third turn leading to the backstretch, P L Oscar (Braxten Boyd) came rushing up first-over and following that outside cover was Credit Con and driver Joe Bongiorno. HL Revadon was still on the lead past the three-quarters in 1:25.3.

By the top of the stretch, P L Oscar cleared to the lead leaving Credit Con first-over and fanning three-deep was Hey Livvy (Jordan Stratton). In a torrid stretch drive by Bongiorno, Credit Con was able to hold off Hey Livvy to win by a neck in 1:55.3 on the track labeled good. P L Oscar was third, also by a neck in the three-horse photo.

CREDIT CON REPLAY

It was the second win this season for Credit Con, who paid a whopping $75.50 to win. He is trained by Jenn Bongiorno for owner Ben Mondello.

Joe Lee asserted the correctly named Its A Horse (Full Count) to the lead early and fought all through to the finish to take a narrow victory in the $10,000 North American Amateur Drivers Association (NAADA) Trot on Thursday night (March 23) at Yonkers Raceway.

Starting from the pylon post, Its A Horse pushed through to protect position and lead to a :29.4 first quarter over Shoemaker Hanover (driven by John Calabrese) and Dark Pool (Tony Beltrami), who raced parked from third. Dark Pool ventured forward to apply intensifying pressure on Its A Horse through a 1:01.1 half and 1:30.3 three-quarters while Judge Ken (Matt Zuccarello) loosely followed cover second over.

Its A Horse cut the corner with a three-quarter-length lead that diminished through Dark Pool’s persistence and Shoemaker Hanover’s bid from the pocket. Yet the line came in time for Lee and Its A Horse kept a nose up on Dark Pool with Shoemaker Hanover settling for third and Natural Kemp (Scott Keppler) rallying for fourth.

Peter Pellegrino trains Its A Horse, a 10-year-old gelding, for owner Barry Franklin.

NAADA action resumes Wednesday (March 29) when it visits a different venue for the first time this season with divisions at Monticello Raceway. First-race post time at Monticello is 12:10 p.m. (EDT).

For complete race results, click here.

by Steve Wolf, for Harnesslink and Ray Cotolo, for NAADA