Strong Yankee takes trot

Strong Yankee held off Vivid Photo down the lane and captured the $610,000 Breeders Crown 3-year-old colt and gelding trot in 1:53.4 for driver Brian Sears. Sir Perseverance and George Brennan closed from the back of the field to be third.



Trainer-driver Roger Hammer had Vivid Photo leaving alertly from behind the gate and leading the field to the quarter in :27.4. Then Sears tipped Strong Yankee from the three hole and quickly brushed to the lead. As he passed the half in :56.1 Farmer Jones and Ron Pierece applied pressure on the outside but he faded as the leader approached the 1:25.3 three-quarters. Hammer pulled Vivid Photo back out for the stretch drive but he could not make up the difference, crossing the finish line just a little more than a length behind the winner.



The victory is the fifth straight and eighth in 18 starts this year for the son of Muscles Yankee who increased his lifetime earnings to $1,353,782 for the Strong Yankee Stable (Ted Gerwertz, R. Peter Heffering, Jerry Silva, Dr. Michael Wilson, Lou Dominano?s Sampson Street Stable and Tina Martinez?s Wcb Racing Stable).



After the race trainer Trond Smedshammer explained the late-season surge by Strong Yankee: ?He?s a big horse. It took him a while to get ready. We changed a couple things after the Hambo, and he?s just gotten better and better.?



Co-owner Lou Dominao said Strong Yankee will be back racing next year. ?We had a discussion with Trond and the other owners and he feels we can re-write the trotting record book, and that?s what we?re going to do, I hope.?

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