Strong closing effort gets Downrightdelicious home

With his last two quarters in the race traveled in :27.3, Downrightdelicious (Downbytheseaside) and harness racing driver Matt Kakaley were able to collar pacesetter Adam Twelve in winning the $32,000 Open Pace Wednesday (April 24) at Yonkers Raceway.

The 5^th race Open Pace feature for 3-6-year-olds started off with Adam Twelve (Yannick Gingras) leaving from post six and scooting right to the early lead with race favorite Downrightdelicious sitting on their backs to the opening quarter mile in :27.3.

Off to the half mile marker, Greg The Leg (Brent Holland), who was parked out in fifth place, started marching up first-over as Adam Twelve continued to cut the mile to the half in a mild :56.4. Then the action started to heat up a little as Downrightdelicious and Kakaley pulled from the pocket trip to come after Adam Twelve as they hit the three-quarters in 1:24.2.

By the top of the stretch, Downrightdelicious had his sights on Adam Twelve as those two battled down the stretch with Downrightdelicious coming out on top by a half a length in 1:52.1 over Adam Twelve with Thunder Hunter Joe four lengths back in third.

“I thought Matt’s drive was perfect,” said winning trainer Travis Alexander. “He made sure Jason didn’t trap him in and also got Yannick to sprint before he wanted too. They were able to save ground around the turn and pace by a very nice horse in the lane.”

DOWNRIGHTDELICIOUS REPLAY

It was the second win in five starts this year for Downrightdelicious. The four-year-old gelding is trained by Travis Alexander for the Fiddler’s Creek Stable who also bred the horse. He paid $4.30 to win.

To read about the night’s John Brennan Trotting Series, click here.

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

by Steve Wolf, for Harnesslink