Yonkers: Kazio Dk wouldn't be denied in John Brennan Series final

Kazio Dk scored a hard-fought 1:55 2/5 win in the $100,000 John Brennan Trotting Series final on Wednesday (April 22) at MGM Yonkers Raceway.

Driven by Yannick Gingras, Kazio Dk worked two-wide to get the lead away from Always A Story (Tyler Buter) past the 28 3/5 quarter and then backed down the half to 58 1/5. Always A Story would then vacate the pylons exiting the third turn and got side-by-side with Kazio Dk at the 1:27 three-quarters.

The battle between Always A Story and Kazio Dk continued around the last turn, and it appeared that Always A Story had a narrow advantage on the outside as they turned into the stretch. However, Kazio Dk came back on the inside in the stretch and was able to defeat the game Always A Story by a nose. Top Gun Hanover (Jason Bartlett) was third after he was unable to keep up with Always A Story's cover from second-over.

Gingras also co-owns the Ron Burke-trained Kazio Dk, a 5-year-old gelding by Muscle Massive, with partners Burke Racing Stable LLC., Weaver Bruscemi LLC. and Fac Racing LLC. Kazio Dk has a summary of 9-11-4 from 37 appearances, has banked $172,099 and returned $2.78 to win as the 1-5 choice. He was atop a $6.76 exacta and a $25.50 trifecta.

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Commodus A, a 5-year-old gelded son of Father Patrick, rallied from second-over in the lane and got up to capture the $50,000 consolation race by half a length in 1:56. Bartlett drove Commodus A, a Group 1 winner in Australia, for trainer Per Engblom and owner Peaceful Acre Farm.

The John Brennan Trotting Series is named in honor of the longtime Standardbred Owners Association of New York horsemen's representative who passed away from complications of COVID-19 in March 2020.

In other upcoming stakes action at Yonkers, the final prelims in both the MGM Ursula McIntyre Pacing Series and the MGM Borgata Pacing Series are set, with three $50,000 divisions of the McIntyre on Friday (April 24) and the Borgata on Monday (April 27).

This is the final week that Yonkers is on the Monday through Friday live racing schedule for a bit as the oval will switch to Monday/Tuesday and Thursday through Saturday slate beginning next week and continuing through the first week in June. Post time will be 6:45 p.m. (EDT) except Saturday, as those programs will kick off at 3:30 p.m. (EDT).

--press release (Yonkers)--