Cards at Yonkers could prove interesting late

One week after the track cancelled live racing due to the heavy winter storm that enveloped the Mid-Atlantic region and much of the northeast, Yonkers Raceway will offer a solid Saturday night card that certainly bears watching and the New York oval will present a Monday card that also looks very intriguing late.

Saturday night's card features a pair of Open events - one each for trotters and pacers - but some of the more interesting races on the card occur earlier and later than the co-features for opposing gaits.

In the fourth, a non-winners of $18,000 last five class for pacers, look for Cheyenne Seelster (Pat Lachance) to garner his first win of the season following a sharp, second-place effort on Jan 16. Jeneral Patton (Daniel Dube) steps up off a sharp, first over score against non-winners of $12,000 last five company and merits respect in this spot, as does Cyclone Kiwi N (Jason Bartlett) who has grown accustomed to facing much tougher here and owns a win against non-winners of $26,150 last five company.

Then much later in the finale, a non-winners of $25,000 last five class for older pacers, look for railbound Sunfire Blue Chip (Brian Sears) and Drunken Desire A (Matt Kakaley) to settle the issue late. Sunfire Blue Chip led throughout to win at this level on Jan. 16 and looks poised to garner his second straight for trainer Jimmy Takter. But Drunken Desire A takes a steep drop in class after facing Open and Preferred rivals in his previous two outings and draws post two and will be in prime position to take dead aim on 'Sunfire' in the lane.

The latter portion of Monday's card at Yonkers offers a trio of non-winners of $12,000 last five starts conditioned events and the three-way split might prove more educational than playable this week since many of the horses missed last week.

In the first of those splits, the eighth race, raibound Rock To Glory and Panchester United both drew favorably and both will be tough. But Sea Star should benefit from his lone outing and moves well inside from post eight, while Urbana Bayama and Ronny Bugatti arrive off sharp efforts on Jan. 16, but they had the misfortune of drawing posts seven and eight, respectively.

Two races later in the second non-winners of $12,000 last five split, Caviart Luca (Jordan Stratton) arrives off a sharp, first over score at this level last Monday and drew post two for trainer Noel Daley. Fiery Lustre N (Scott Zeron) rallied from far back and third over into a solid back half and without benefit of live cover to finish second at this level last Monday and looms a serious threat despite drawing post seven.

Then two races later in the finale and the third part of the three-way split condition, Freespin N (Jason Bartlett) drops into an ideal spot to notch his first win of the season. He has repeatedly faced much tougher over the last three months at Yonkers and his most recent victory last fall came against non-winners of $18,000 last five company. Railbound Art Of Illusion steps up off a win  against non-winners of $8000 last five foes.