Trainer Jimmy Takter hopes tonight’s $530,000 Yonkers Trot is one to remember as he sends out 8-5 morning-line favorite Dontyouforgetit.
Dontyouforgetit, who won one of two Trot eliminations last week, could give Takter his fourth Trot victory in five years. Takter has a Yonkers Raceway Trot hat trick on his résumé with Judge Joe (2009), On The Tab (2010) and Leader Of The Gang (2011).
“I didn’t even think he’d have a chance to get to the races [as a baby], that’s how tiny he was,” Takter said of Dontyouforgetit. “They say the small horses probably fit better on the half-mile [track], but I don’t think it matters with this colt. If he feels like he’s in contention, he wants to race anything. He has a huge heart.”
Even though Hall of Famer Takter is also a talented driver, he has chosen Yonkers’ top driver Brian Sears to pilot Dontyouforgetit.
Sears won Yonkers’ signature race for 3-year trotters in 2005 with Strong Yankee.
While Dontyouforgetit will start from post position 4, the other elimination winner, Creampuff Macdaddy, will only be two spots away in post 6.
Creampuff Macdaddy (4-1), trained by Brad Maxwell and driven by Jason Bartlett, easily won his elim in a snappy 1:56 3/5 by 1 1/2 lengths over Dewycolorintheline.
Dewycolorintheline (post 2) is the 3-1 morning-line second choice for co-owner/trainer/driver Ray Schnittker.
The Yonkers Trot (post time 9:34 p.m.) is the first jewel in the Trotting Triple Crown. The second jewel, the Hambletonian, is Aug. 3, at the Meadowlands Racetrack in New Jersey, and the third jewel, the Kentucky Futurity, is Oct. 6 at the Red Mile in Lexington, Ky.