Tyler Buter notches 4,000th career win

Harness racing driver Tyler Buter scored the 4,000th driving win of his career when he piloted Dragon Roll (Roll With Joe) to a 1:52.2 victory in the seventh race on Thursday night (July 14) at Yonkers Raceway.

Buter had Dragon Roll, trained and owned by Ricky Bucci, on the lead through fractions of 27.1, 56.2, and 1:24.1 in the $30,000 event for pacing mares, and the 5-year-old mare dug in gamely through the stretch to defeat this year’s Blue Chip Matchmaker Series Champion Drama Act (Joe Bongiorno) by a neck.

A 36-year-old Michigan native with deep family ties to the sport, Buter started his career in 2002 and made his first appearance in the winner’s circle at the Gladwin County Fair in the Wolverine State. He moved east in 2010 and has been a regular face in the driving colony at Yonkers since then.

His best year in the bike was 2019 when he was victorious 327 times, including in the $500,000 Messenger at Yonkers with American Mercury, and his charges earned $5.69 million. In total, his drives have banked over $51.7 million.

DRAGON ROLL – BUTER’S 4,000TH REPLAY

For the second straight week McMarkle Sparkle (McArdle) showed she’s the top mare at the track with another victory in the $39,000 F&M Open Pace.

The 8^th race feature got underway with Morning Has Broken and driver Brent Holland taking command early from the rail with DelitfulCatherin N (Jordan Stratton) to a quick opening quarter in :26.2.

Coming to the half mile Majorca N and Corey Callahan was first-over followed by Siesta Beach (Austin Siegelman) and third-over was McMarkle Sparkle and driver Greg Merton. The half went in :55.2.

They raced down the backstretch until the three-quarters in 1:23.3 when Merton took McMarkle Sparkle three-wide then four-wide as Siesta Beach came three-wide around the final turn.

As they came down the stretch, Merton and McMarkle Sparke had all the momentum and pulled away to win by two lengths in 1:52 with Delitfulcatherin N second and Majorca N third.

MCMARKLE SPARKLE REPLAY

It was the sixth win this year for McMarkle Spakle. She is trained by Scott Di Domenico for owner-breeder Laura Baker of Ohio. She paid $3.80 to win as the favorite.

For complete race results, click here.

From Yonkers Raceway, with files from Steve Wolf