Yonkers: Analysis for Monday 7/20

MEET STATS: 103 - 287 / $619.30 (+$45.30)
BEST BETS: 17 - 28 / $52.50 (-$3.50)
SPOT PLAYS: 7 - 28 / $45.00 (-$11.00)
BEST BET - TELLITSABB (5th)
SPOT PLAY - AFFLUENT SEELSTER (4th)

Race 1 - NW2/25000LT Pace

(2) ROBUSTO BLUE CHIP switches to an overnight race here after taking a couple chances in the Excelsior A Series. He kicked home with a sub-28 second final panel in a fast mile at Vernon and Bartlett drove him to a third-place finish at Tioga before that. This horse also has a great deal of half-mile track experience from racing out at Northfield. (6) STOP ACTION beat NW2's at Pocono back on June 30 and followed that up with a solid third from first-over and an outside post. Buter has been piloting him in Pennsylvania and does so here also. (3) FOLLOW YOUR HEART will probably get plenty of attention moving out of the New Jersey Sire Stakes, but the break on 6-26 concerns me and I fear he'll be overbet.

Race 2 - NW10000L5/Winner of the Base Class NW5000L5 in Last Start/20000CLM Trot

(7) BUEN CAMINO grabbed five of his six wins last year at Yonkers in the NW20000L5 class, so this is a pretty soft spot for a horse with a recent good local history, and there was nothing wrong with any of his tries at the Meadowlands. (4) STRIKING ENCORE invades from Pocono coming off back-to-back wins. You have to like a horse who can make front from post nine over there switching to the half-mile track, and I would think Siegelman will be going forward off the gate. (3) ZOOMING seems to have come back strong off the layoff as he was second at the Meadowlands and then won at Pocono. This is probably a step up in class from those two races, but he looks usable in trifectas and superfectas.

Race 3 - MGM MLife Ladies Pacing Series Consolation 3&4YO Filly Pace

(5) SASKATOON won three straight back in June, so it looks like she's improved from the preliminary legs of this series that were held back in March. She picks up Yannick Gingras tonight, and hopefully he puts her on or near the lead like when she was on that win streak. (1A) DD DELICIOUS is probably the better half of this entry and goes for the hot driver/trainer combo of Kakaley and Alexander. She hasn't made a pari-mutuel start since March, but I trust Alexander will have her ready off the qualifier. (2) PASSPORT HANOVER has hit the board in three of four starts against NW4's at Pocono and her early speed from over there would serve her well again tonight.

Race 4 - MGM MLife Ladies Pacing Series Final 4YO Mares Pace

(4) AFFLUENT SEELSTER was victorious in both her preliminary round starts in this series way back when and improved in her second start off the shelf to defeat NW5's at Harrah's Philadelphia most recently. I'll hope for a bit of value and slot on top. (1) NORTH STAR IDEAL prevailed over NW4's last Monday and gets the best of the draw here from the pole position. Bartlett was listed but she ends up with Matt Kakaley driving, though he was her regular pilot back in the winter. (2) PLATNUM PEARL raced for Ron Burke when she was last here but ships east from Northfield into the Steven Brabook barn now. She raced well against some tough foes in Ohio and looks like another logical contender.

Race 5 - MGM MLife Gents Pacing Series Consolation 3&4YO C&G Pace

(3) TELLITSABB dominated NW8's a week ago from post eight and will likely do the same here at 1-9 as he moves inside. (8) MARCO BEACH gives Travis Alexander the two best horses in the race. He got to the lead from post nine at Pocono on June 20, so that should give George Brennan some confidence to hustle him away. (2) TWIN B JAYS never got involved from an outside post last Monday against Tellitsabb but gets significant post relief this week. He was competitive against Marco Beach two back at Pocono, finishing fourth to Marco Beach's second.

Race 6 - MGM MLife Gents Pacing Series Final 4YO H&G Pace

(2) SHAMMA LAMMA rallied to finish second in the one leg of this series he competed in on March 4, then came back to Yonkers on 6-29 and closed strongly again to get a runner-up finish against NW4's. He switches drivers to Kakaley tonight and won a qualifier at Pocono nicely coming into this event, so I'll give him a shot. (6) SEMI TOUGH will probably be favored coming off an easy win at The Meadows and with those tries in the Graduate Series showing on the program. I'll hope he has to work a bit to get to the front from this post and try and beat him. (4) EHRMANTRAUT beat an eventual Meadowlands Pace finalist in Captain Barbossa in that event on 6-20 at The Big M, and he wasn't bad in either of those more recent appearances at Pocono.

Race 7 - NW5000L5/12500CLM Pace

(1) WINNING LINC had a bad case of the post ten blues in his last pair at the Meadowlands, but coming to Yonkers was the cure as he grabs the pole position in a winnable race. (4) DREAM OF LUCK got a tightener under his belt against NW10000L5's at Harrah's Philly and now comes back to Yonkers. He was third against NW15000L5's before the racing shutdown and should find this company more to his liking as far as being a win threat. (7) MAAJAACKKOBE finished fourth in this class two weeks ago, and there's a chance he could be better tonight as that was his first start of the year. Brennan and trainer Carl Tirella have good success when paired together, and that's the case here.

Race 8 - NW5000L5/12500CLM Pace

(4) DAAMERICANSKY led all the way and thumped a NW3000L5 group at Pocono and shifts over to Yonkers tonight. This isn't much of a class hike and he won that last contest with what appeared to be plenty left, so I'll give him the nod. (3) MISTER DAYTONA N appears to be the other main danger in here coming back from a second-place finish in the open at Tioga on June 30. His last win came against NW5000L5's at Yonkers in February. (8) MELODIES MAJOR drew in off the also-eligible list but his "reward" was post eight. He fired out from post six and only gave way late in the stretch a couple weeks ago, so maybe Zeron tries to blast as well.