Once Shaky Hanover and Hulas Z Tam drew in separate divisions of Saturday night's $185,238 New York Sire Stakes Frank Becerra Pace for two-year-old fillies, there didn't figure to be much Yonkers Raceway suspense
.
Sure enough, a pair of death and taxes moments in the $92,619 divisions, with both leading lasses behaving as advertised.
Shaky Hanover (Matt Kakaley) two-moved to the lead in the first statebred event. The 1-2 choice from post position No. 2, "Shaky" retook from Shes A Screamer (Ray Schnittker) before a :29-second opening quarter-mile. That led a to a slow :59-second intermission before the favourite kicked it up a notch.
With Rough Sketch (Jim Morrill, Jr.) coming first-up, Shaky Hanover throw out a :28 third quarter, opening to 2-1/4 lengths in the lane. She won by a length-and-a-half in 1:56.3, with Shes A Screamer photoing Rough Sketch for second.
For Shaky Hanover, a daughter of Bettors Delight trained by Jim Perry for co-owners Jack and William Heinz, she returned $3.10 for her sixth victory in 10 seasonal starts (two-for-two at Yonkers). The seasonal earnings are now more than $160,000. The exacta paid $24.80, with the triple returning $102.50.
"She's been a solid horse every start I've driven her," Kakaley said. "When she was here last time [NYSS in last July], it was my first time with her. She had a bad post and was coming off a break ([n the Geers at Tioga], so I just wanted to baby her away from the gate.
"Since then, she's become much easier to leave with, and from the two-hole, I just drove her like she was the best."
The second NYSS grouping saw Hulas Z Tam (Pat Lachance)--at 15 cents on the dollar from post No. 3--move to the lead from an early three-hole.
She took over from Truly A Treasure (Jason Bartlett) after a :28.3 opening quarter-mile, then toyed with her rivals for the duration (:58.2, 1:27, 1:56.4). She slapped 4-1/2 lengths on her pursuers turning for home before winning (her fifth consecutive victory) by 4-1/4 lengths. Odds on Design (Ryan Anderson), a 48-1 proposition, snapped second, with Truly A Treasure third.
For "Hula," a Bettors Delight miss co-owned (with Z Tam Racing and Margaret Dey) and trained by Lachance, she returned $2.30 for her fifth win in a half-dozen first-season tries (earnings of more than $169,000). The exacta paid $34.80, with the triple returning $117.50.
"She's just had the breeding to be very good, and she hasn't disappointed," Lachance said. "Some people were concerned because she was on the smallish side, but she has just kept getting better."
Saturday night's $50,000 Open Handicap Pace was won by 15-1 Runover Feeling (Bartlett, $33.80) in 1:52.1.
(Yonkers Raceway)