23°C
Yonkers Raceway
Stay Hungry moved one step nearer the Pacing Triple Crown with a win in Saturday’s Messenger Stakes at Yonkers Raceway while trainer-driver Ake Svanstedt enjoyed a record-setting night in trotting stakes action for 3-year-olds by capturing the Yonkers Trot with Six Pack and Hudson Filly Trot with Plunge Blue Chip...read on
3 Year Open pace 1.609 m auto Purse: $500 000
RACE 7 - Yonkers Raceway - NY - September 1, 2022
Conditions: THE $580,000 MESSENGER STAKE FINAL OPEN FINAL STARTING FEE $2,500 + $17.86 NYS STARTING FEE
Gait: Pace Purse: $500,000 Class: MESSENGER Distance: 1 Mile Track Cond: FAST
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1st Stay Hungry (3, H Somebeachsomewhere - My Little Dragon - Dragon Again)
Registered Owner(s)/Lessee(s): Bradley Grant - ON, Irwin Samelman Estate - NV
Breeder(s): Av & Son Bloodstock LLC - NY
2nd Jimmy Freight (3, H Sportswriter - Allamerican Summer - Western Ideal)
Registered Owner(s): Adriano Sorella - ON
Breeder(s): Alan Eden - IA, Randell Eden - IA
3rd Topville Olympian (3, G American Ideal - Our Sophia - Art Major)
Registered Owner(s): Menary Racing Inc - ON, Billy Timmins - GB, Anthony Timmins - GB, Crawford Farms Racing - NY
Breeder(s): Ross Bonafield - NY, Glenn Bechtel - ON | Mike Lizzi photo |
| Stay Hungry won the $500,000 Messenger Stakes for 3-year-old pacers by a neck over favorite Jimmy Freight in 1:52.1. |
Stay Hungry moved one step nearer the Pacing Triple Crown with a win in Saturday’s Messenger Stakes at Yonkers Raceway while trainer-driver Ake Svanstedt enjoyed a record-setting night in trotting stakes action for 3-year-olds by capturing the Yonkers Trot with Six Pack and Hudson Filly Trot with Plunge Blue Chip.
Stay Hungry won the $500,000 Messenger Stakes for 3-year-old pacers by a neck over favorite Jimmy Freight in 1:52.1. Topville Olympian was third.
The Messenger Stakes is the second jewel in the Pacing Triple Crown. Stay Hungry won the first, the Cane Pace, on Aug. 4 at the Meadowlands and can complete the sweep of the Crown races with a win in the Little Brown Jug on Sept. 20 at the Delaware County Fair.
Stay Hungry, driven by Doug McNair for trainer Tony Alagna, was among four horses racing for the early lead in the Messenger, with Winston, Babes Dig Me, and Jimmy Freight. Stay Hungry, who started from post six, got to the front as the field reached the opening quarter-mile in :27.1 and remained in front from there, but not without a fight.
Jimmy Freight, who started from post eight, came after Stay Hungry as the horses made their way around the second turn and headed to the half-mile point. The two raced together to the half in :55.3 and three-quarters in 1:23 and continued to battle down the stretch.
“I actually had my horse too much up on his toes,” McNair said. “I could have taken my time a little bit more (going for the lead), I just thought Jimmy would get over there a little quicker than he did, but it all worked out.
“They both got pretty tired there the last sixteenth (of a mile). We got lucky to hold on.
“Tony does a great job with (Stay Hungry). He’s just a pleasure to drive. Every week he gives you a hundred percent. The front end usually isn’t his forte, but he showed tonight that he could do it.”
Alagna has won the Messenger three times in four years.
“When we’re doing the staking, I have in mind horses that I think will suit the racetrack, suit this style of racing,” Alagna said. “This horse has always been very good in the turns, even though maybe it’s not his forte to do the run-and-gun, but I thought he was a horse that could get around here. After the horse won the Cane, it was a no-brainer; we had to go for the Triple Crown, so that’s why we brought him here tonight.
“We’ve been very blessed in this race. It’s a great race for us.”
Stay Hungry has won four of 10 races this year and 10 of 19 in his career, good for $1.15 million in purses. The colt, a son of Somebeachsomewhere out of My Little Dragon, is owned by Brad Grant and the Irwin Samelman Estate.
Sent off as the 5-2 second choice behind 3-5 Jimmy Freight, Stay Hungry paid $7.60 to win.
WorldClass
Trotting.Com