Yonkers: Racing Hill rolls in Messenger final

Racing Hill overcame a bit of a tight squeeze in the first turn, rolled to the front, and never looked back en route to a 1:53 victory in the $500,000 Messenger Stakes, the second leg of the Pacing Triple Crown, on Saturday night at Yonkers Raceway.

Driven by Brett Miller, Racing Hill got away fifth and was jammed up a bit in the opening bend behind Don`tcallmefrancis (Joe Bongiorno), but he was able to get out of that spot and drove to the lead around fellow Tony Alagna trainee Dr J Hanover (Scott Zeron) just past the 27 3/5 first quarter.

From there, Racing Hill never faced a serious threat, rolling through middle-half panels of 56 and 1:25 on his way to the victory by about two lengths over Stonebridge Beach (Daniel Dube), who out-paced Dr J Hanover in the lane. Western Fame (Mark MacDonald) finished fourth, and Another Daily Copy (Corey Callahan) was placed fifth after original fifth-place finisher Fernando Hanover (George Brennan) was deemed to have left the course in the stretch.

"This is a very nice colt. Since the first time I sat behind him as a 2-year-old he's been very professional," Miller said. "He has a great gait to him, and he's extremely fast. He's got all the tools. He can go 25 seconds, and then he can go 32 seconds. Then he can finish very, very fast. That's his strong suit.

"He was very good tonight. In the first turn it got a little tight, but once I moved him to the front he felt very good. Most of the time the real good horses can get around any sized track."

The winner, a colt sired by the Blue Chip Farms stallion Roll With Joe, is trained by Alagna for owner/breeder Tom Hill. Racing Hill is now a ten-time winner from 21 career attempts, and he has banked $1,345,028. Sent off at 1-9, Racing Hill returned $2.10.