Yonkers: Gingras gets ‘Revenge’ in Messenger Final

Driver Yannick Gingras had an up and down night on Saturday at Yonkers Raceway that ended on a positive note but didn’t exactly wipe away the bad taste in his mouth. After being disqualified in the Yonkers Trot, Gingras came back to capture the $500,000 Messenger Pace with Revenge Shark in 1:53 1/5.

The Messenger unfolded as expected on paper with In The Arsenal gunning to the front to force Dude’s The Man into a pocket trip. Driver Brian Sears, who earlier won the Yonkers Trot with Habitat, got away with soft fractions of 27 3/5, 56 4/5 and 1:25 1/5 while facing no pressure.

The race played into the hands of Sears and In The Arsenal, but Dude’s The Man took aim from the pocket as did Revenge Shark from the three-hole. The trio fanned across the track and Gingras was able to get Revenge Shark’s nose up on the wire over Dude’s The Man and In The Arsenal.

“I thought I had a little chance,” said Gingras about his pre-race thoughts of winning. “I thought I could follow and be second. At the head of the stretch Dude’s The Man looked like he had as much pace as I did, so I would have been happy with second.”

Despite the victory, Gingras could not hide his displeasure with being disqualified two races earlier.

"He's a horse that I love, Pinkman, and you like to have things done the right way,” said Gingras. “I strongly disagree with the disqualification. I don't blame the judges, they have a job to do and I wouldn't want their jobs. We have to agree to disagree."

For Revenge Shark ($21.60), it was his fourth win in 17 starts and boosted his 2015 earnings to $417,607. He is trained by Tony Alagna for Alagna Racing LLC and Bradley Grant.

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