NATIONAL ROUNDUP : Pacer Ends Her Losing Streak at 52 Races

After losing 52 consecutive races, Sultry Samantha won the $3,300 pace Monday at the Freehold (N.J.) Raceway.

Sultry Samantha has been competing for three years at the raceway. She won the mile-long race in 2:04 4/5 and paid $28.80.

Our Homeboy, the odds-on favorite, led throughout to win Aqueduct’s $33,000 allowance feature for 3-year-olds and up by 1 1/2 lengths.

Moby Jak was second in the six-horse field. It was another four lengths to Wild Dante.

It was the third consecutive victory and the fifth in seven starts this year for Our Homeboy, who was ridden by John Velazquez.

Our Homeboy covered 1 1/16 miles on the fast track in 1:45 to earn $19,800 for Jewel E Stable. He paid $3.40, $2.80 and $2.20. Moby Jak paid $5.60 and $3.80 and Wild Dante paid $2.60.

The union representing 220 striking parimutuel clerks at Fairmount Park Race Track in Collinsville, Ill., near St. Louis, has agreed to take a 50% pay cut to $10 per hour if the track will let them come back to work.

The nine-member executive board of Fairmount Local 624 voted to end the strike after racetrack officials said they would hire replacements.

Local president Terry Bub said union lawyers had told him there was a chance the striking clerks could lose their jobs and have no legal recourse. Bub said union officials also feared the track might try to divide the union by offering some members jobs.

There was no immediate response from racetrack officials.