Skyway Rockatop gives, goes, wins

The five-year-old harness racing daughter of Jk Endofanera, Skyway Rockatop, and driver David Lake used the ole ‘give and go’ maneuver successfully to win the featured $10,800 Mares Open Pace on Friday night (May 19) at Northville Downs.

From post position two, Lake and Skyway Rockatop shot to the lead in the opening turn, but faced immediate pressure from Rockinattheryman and driver Marc St. Louis, Jr., whom Lake decided to turn only to come right back to take the lead by the quarter pole and never look back.

The pair did face continued pressure in the mile from several challengers, but they held them all off to win by a diminishing head margin in 1:57.1 over the sloppy going.

Passionate Deo and Kim Pluta were parked out from the word go and managed to still surge late to just miss, finishing second, while Princess Rougarou and Kody Massey settled for third.

The win marked the 13th career victory for Skyway Rockatop who is owned by Marilyn Breuer-Bertera and trained by Roger Bertera.

Three drivers had driving doubles on the night including Jason Merriman, David Lake and Kody Massey, while driver Bart Stimer nailed career driving win 992 of his career, leaving him just eight away from his 1000th. Jason Merriman, who is the current leading driver at Northville, is now just 30 wins away from career driving win 3000 following his double on the night.

Racing at Northville Downs resumes Saturday, May 20th  at 7pm.  Live racing continues every Friday and Saturday evening now through September 30th. For live racing dining reservations, be sure to call Northville Downs in advance at 248-924-2073.

For complete race results, click here.

by Ken Terpenning, for Northville Downs