The SOA of NY would like to extend congratulations to Mark Herschberger, who made his FIRST ever drive at @YonkersRaceway a winning one on Wednesday night (with Genius Man, as the favorite, in the 2nd Race) – he almost went 2 for 2 in his debut, just missing in the 11th with Mikey Camden, nearly pulling off a 35-1 upset! Hopefully we’ll be seeing a lot more of this talented newcomer here at The Hilltop! Photo by @Mike_Lizzi

Quick follow up - The Empire Report selected NINE of Wednesday's winners on top, with their 2nd choice taking the other 2 races

Thanks to the 146 people (Facebook and Twitter) who played the contest. Jason won 4 races and 29 people guessed that Jason would win 4 races. We randomly selected the 3 winners and they are Keith Koch, Ralph Silvestri and Benji Robinson. Thanks to everyone who played and stay tuned for more hat contests to come in the near future.

Some quick calculations... While there were plenty of juicy payoffs throughout last week at @YonkersRaceway, let’s take a quick look just at Wednesday night, to see some examples of how much players at could have benefited from the 10% BONUS that is paid out on the winnings from Yonkers bets (minus the base wager, and excluding place and show): Early Pick 4 $3956 ---------------------> With Bonus, $4351.40 Race 5 Pick 3 $2014 -------------------> With Bonus, $2237.20 Race 6 Trifecta $6742 ------------------> With Bonus, $7,376.00 Race 6 10 cent Superfecta  $1,792.60 --> With Bonus, $1971.76 Race 6 Pick 3 $3,488 -------------------> With Bonus, $3836.60 If you are NOT current playing at Empire City Bets (and taking advantage of all the benefits/rewards being offered not only at Yonkers, but at over 100 other racetracks), please go to to sign up for your account!

Attached are the nomination blanks for the Borgata Pacing Series, the Blue Chip Matchmaker and the John Brennan Trotting Series. Copies are also located in the race office.

Jason Bartlett Hat Contest: We have 3 Jason Bartlett $11,000 win autographed SOA hats to give away. All you have to do is guess how many wins Jason will have on Mondays race card, where he has 11 drives. You can find the FREE program at

@Aj3750 Your hat will be mailed tomorrow. Thanks for playing.

@YonkersRaceway @TwinSpires @FanDuel_Racing @AmWager @DRFHarness @drfbets @CaesarsRacebook @OTBonline @dkhorse @NYRABets @Xpressbet @1stbet @watchandwager @HollywoodRaces @USHWA_ @USTrotting @USTAStratWag @Edison_1999_ @theyreoff @Richmattei16

Ron Ochrym will serve his last day today at the NYS Gaming Commission. Ron has been one of the most accessible of all those at the Gaming Commission. Ron has honestly and fairly treated the horsemen and tracks to the best of his ability. Ron recently served as head honcho at the NYS Horse Agriculture and Horse Breeding Development Fund. The NY Sires Stakes Fund, as it is commonly referred to, needed some overhauling and is better off today than ever before as a result of Ron’s work.. Ron has been retiring or trying to for some time now and we hope he enjoys a well deserved respite from his years of hard work on behalf of all NYS racing. He will be missed. Thankfully, a person deeply immersed in racing, one Sarah Klein from a position in the NYS Assembly think tank and John Googas with a long time presence at the NYSGC, will be asked to fill some big shoes, replacing Ron. We are confident that Sarah and John will approach our racing issues with the same degree of concern, Ron so often displayed.

Congrats Jason!!

@Aj3750 Congrats. Email your mailing address to soaofny@gmail.com and we'll get Jason to sign a hat this week.

EXCITING FOLLOW UP! In today’s $1M Euro Prix d’Amerique, Just Love You continued her amazing journey as she finished 2nd to the outstanding Idao de Tillard (who also won last year’s race)! Congratulations to her deserving connections, who showed incredible dedication and patience after that shipping accident a year ago, nursing her back to health...and to a 2nd place finish in France’s premier trotting event!