Yonkers Raceway's Friday night $37,000 co-featured Open Handicaps - Pace for the ladies and Trot for all who passed initiation - were won by front-stepping Lets Go Higher and double-millionaire Wishing Stone.
In play early from assigned post position three, Lets Go Higher - as the tepid 2-1 choice - played leapfrog on the lead with Cocoa Beach. After a :27.3 opening quarter-mile and :57.3 intermission, Cheyenne Miriam moved from third. However, that bid stalled before a 1:26 three-quarters, as Lets Go Higher and Jason Bartlett owned a length-and-a-half lead into the lane. She held off a second-over Rock N Load by a half-length in 1:55.2. Third went to Cocoa Beach.
For Lets Go Higher, a five-year-old daughter of Cole Muffler owned by Jesse DeLong and trained by Heidi Rohr, it was her 14th win in 37 seasonal starts. She paid $6.80.
The week's marquee trot saw Wishing Stone end his season with a picture. Sent postward as the 3-5 choice from his ordered eight-hole, he was wide at the outset before wedging in fifth for driver George Brennan. It was Meladys Monet leading through sub-sections of :28 and :58.3 with Lorenzo Dream pocketed and Brandos Muscle Man trying it first-up. Odds-on Wishing Stone was behind that one at the 1:27.2 three-quarters.
An inside-the-cones Meladys Monet maintained the lead in and out of the final turn before Wishing Stone received the memo. He went by, with the margin a half-length in 1:57.1. Meladys Monet crossed the line second, but was set down to third for the above transgression. That moved Lorenzo Dream to second.
For Wishing Stone, a six-year-old son of Conway Hall trained by Ron Burke for co-owners Cowboyland Aalborg, Deo Volente Farms, J & T Silva and T L P Stables, it was his seventh win in 19 seasonal outings He paid $3.30.
It was announced earlier today Wishing Stone will stand at Deo Volente Farms in Flemington, New Jersey starting in 2014 for a fee of $5,000. Following his North American breeding season the international trotting star is scheduled to return to the racetrack looking to an already impressive resume that includes victories in prestigious events such as the Copenhagen Cup, the Kentucky Futurity, the Matron and the American National.
(Yonkers Raceway)