First-up Shoobees Place (George Brennan) was razor-sharp Saturday night, winning Yonkers Raceway's $46,000 Open Handicap Pace.
Sitting chilly early from post position No. 4, Shoobees Place watched as the three inside entities -- Eighteen (Mark MacDonald), even-money favourite Keystone Velocity (Dan Dube) and Pan From Nantucket (Brian Sears) -- all took turns on a first-half lead (:27.1, :56.1).
Shoobees Place prompted the people's preference through a :27.2 third quarter (1:23.3), then put him away early in the lane. 'Shoobee' went on to win by a comfy length and three-quarters in a season's-best 1:51. Eighteen showed good speed on both ends of the mile to grab second, while Pan Drom Nantucket and Fat Mans Alley (Larry Stalbaum) wound up in a dead-heat for third.
For Shoobees Place, a homebred six-year-old son of Artsplace owned by David McDuffee and trained by Nifty Norman, he returned $10 (third choice) for his third win in 15 seasonal starts. The exacta paid $81, with the triples returning $164 (Pan from Nantucket third) and $351 (Fat Mans Alley third).
(Yonkers Raceway)