Autumn Escapade ran her win streak to three in capturing
Friday night’s single $50,000 elimination for this year’s Armbro Flight
Stakes for older trotting mares at Mohawk Racetrack.Local reinsman Rick Zeron got the call on the five-year-old daughter of
Victory Sam - Winning Colors K, who had won two in a row at Chester Downs,
and got her away well from Post 3, landing in the pocket position early
behind Friendly Amigo (Blair Burgess) through a :27.2 opener.
Elusive Desire (Paul MacDonell) parked all the way around the first turn
and cleared just after the first quarter. At that point, Zeron hustled his
mare out from fourth and quickly took command at the :55.2 half mile mark.
The slick-striding mare was strong heading into the final turn and began to
widen with Yursa Hanover coming first over to challenge and Elusive Desire
struggling to keep pace.
Autumn Escapade took the field past three-quarters in 1:23.3 and built
up a sizeable advantage entering the stretch. From there, no one was able to
chase down the leader who held off an onrushing Southwind Wasabi (Jody
Jamieson), who just edged out Rose Run Keepsake (Sylvain Filion) for the
show spot. Elusive Desire did manage to hang on for fourth.
Autumn Escapade is now three-for-nine this season for trainer Jonas
Czernyson and owners David and Misty Miller of Cream Ridge, New Jersey. The
winner’s share of the purse bumped her career earnings to just over
$366,000.
By winning, Autumn Escapade afforded her connections a chance to choose
their post position for next Saturday’s $351,000 Armbro Flight final. They
opted for post number four.
The top nine finishers from Friday’s elimination made it through to the
final. Buck I St Pat had elected to accept the bye and raced instead at The
Meadowlands where she finished a strong second in a conditioned event behind
John Pauls Legacy in 1:52.2. The world champion ended up with Post 1 in the
open draw.
Here is a look at the entire field for the Armbro Flight final in post
position order:
1. Buck I St Pat
2. Southwind Wasabi
3. Friendly Amigo
4. Autumn Escapade
5. Windsong Soprano
6. Yursa Hanover
7. Rose Run Keepsake
8. Elusive Desire
9. Diana Hall
