Richest card ever at Yonkers

Glidemaster, looking to become the eighth trotter to sweep the Triple Crown, drew post position five for Saturday night’s $728,930 Yonkers Trot at Yonkers Raceway. Eight 3 year olds are set for the 52nd and richest Yonkers Trot, highlight of four stakes events during the Saturday program which also includes the $546,830 Messenger Stakes for 3-year-old pacers, final jewel of the Pacing Triple Crown; the $330,476 Hudson Filly (3-year-old trotters), and the $291,456 Lady Maud for 3-year-old pacing fillies.

The richest night of racing ever at Yonkers Raceway—the four stakes go for a combined $1,897,692--is also the first time in harness history that two Triple Crown events will be contested on the same racing program.

Hard currency and history aside, the glitz belongs to Glidemaster. The son of Yankee Glide is the sport’s richest performer this season ($1,554,236) on the strength of seven wins and seven seconds in 14 starts.

His connections paid the $60,000 Yonkers Trot supplemental entry fee for the privilege of coming to Westchester, looking to add this haughty hardware to August’s $1.5 million Hambletonian and October’s $526,000 Kentucky Futurity.

The Yonkers Trot shall be Glidemaster’s first career half-mile track effort. He is co-owned by Bob Burgess, Karin Olsson-Burgess, Marsha Cohen & Brittany Farms and trained by Blair Burgess.

The quest for the Triple Crown is the swan song for Glidemaster, who goes to stallion duty in 2007 at Pennsylvania’s Walnridge Farm. He enters the Yonkers Trot off four weeks, having finished second in the final of the Breeders Crown Oct. 28 at Woodbine.

“In the end, (the decision) wasn’t about the money, but just the opportunity to do something special,” Blair Burgess said. “How many times are you going to get this chance?

“I think he is going to handle the track fine, though I might use a different bike,” Burgess said. “I am certainly concerned about his lack of gate speed and his lack of small-track experience.”

George Brennan, who picked up the driving assignment in the aforementioned Breeders Crown final after Hall of Famer John Campbell was injured, retains those duties.

The complete Yonkers Trot field--Saturday night’s 7th race--in post position order: 1-Naughty Nunu (Mike Lachance); 2-Algiers Hall (John Stark Jr.); 3-Bob Heyden (Trond Smedshammer); 4-Ira K (Yannick Gingras); 5-Glidemaster (George Brennan); 6-Limbo Glide (Ron Pierce); 7-Here Comes Herbie (Jody Jamieson); 8-RC Royalty (Dan Daley).

Should Glidemaster take the Yonkers Trot, he would become the eighth winner of the Trotting Triple Crown, joining two-time Harness Horse of the Year Scott Frost (1955, the race’s first edition), Horse of the Year Speedy Scot (1963), Ayres (1964), three-time Horse of the Year Nevele Pride (1968), Lindy’s Pride (1969), Super Bowl (1972) and Windsong’s Legacy (2004).

The Yonkers Trot is returned to its birthplace for the first time since 2003, having been contested at Hawthorne Racecourse outside Chicago (2004) and Freehold (NJ) Raceway in ’05 while Yonkers underwent construction for the installation of video gaming machines.

Breeders Crown champion Shark Gesture drew post two and looms the horse to beat in the Messenger, carded as the fifth race. The son of Cam’s Card Shark has eight wins and two seconds in his 15 seasonal starts ($634,320) for co-owners Norman and Gerald Smiley and TLP Stable and trained by Erv Miller. Brennan is the chauffeur.

The Messenger field, in post order: 1-Winslow Gambler (Jamieson); 2-Shark Gesture (Brennan); 3-Palone Ranger (Pierce); 4-Perfect Union (Dave Miller); 5-Livestrong (Steve Smith); 6-Jake Of Diamonds (Ray Schnittker).

The final jewel of the Pacing Triple Crown returns to Yonkers for the first time since Matt’s Scooter won in 1988—the first and only year the race was held here. The Messenger debuted at Roosevelt Raceway in 1956 and remained there until the Long Island track’s demise in early 1988. The nomadic race has since been contested at Yonkers (as aforementioned in ’88), the now-defunct Freestate (Md.) Raceway, Rosecroft (Md.) Raceway, The Meadows outside Pittsburgh and Harrington (Del.) Raceway before returning to the greater metropolitan area.

The Hudson Filly Trot (3rd race) features a pair of leading ladies from lousy venues. Hidden Viggorish (Brian Zendt, post seven) and Queen Serene (Smedshammer, post eight) each strolled in their respective Hudson elimination races a week ago, but neither received any love in the open-draw final.

Regardless, both are quite form-fitting. Hidden Viggorish had won 10 consecutive races, while Queen Serene enters having won her last three starts. The two have combined to earn more than $640,000 this season.

The road to the Lady Maud (4th race) winner’s circle goes through New York Sire Stakes champion Darlin’s Delight (Yannick Gingras, post six). The daughter of Bettor’s Delight has won nine of her 14 ’06 tries and $794,624 for owner White Birch Farm and trainer Jeff Stafford. (Yonkers)

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