Savage Cindy set a new track record for three-year-old pacing fillies at Vernon Downs, winning the $169,167 New York Sire Stakes (NYSS) in 1:49.3 on Friday, Aug. 14.

Leaving from post two, Savage Cindy and driver Leon Bailey landed in third behind a pair of early speedsters before making the winning move. Surreal Spirit (Jeff Gregory) was first to the quarter in a sizzling 25-second sprint out of post eight with Two Twenty Swift (Chris Long) also leaving quickly from post seven and pressing on to take over the top spot just past the first pole. But her lead was also short-lived as Savage Cindy swept by down the backstretch. 

Savage Cindy fronted the fillies through a hot half in :53 with 1-2 favourite Odds On Monetary (Matt Kakaley) making a bid for the front next from fourth. The bettors' choice, a four-time NYSS winner already this season, matched strides with Savage Cindy and those two fillies battled head-to-head into the final turn. However, Savage Cindy shook loose to three-quarters in 1:20.3 and kept on going as Bailey urged her home with a clear lead to the wire in a track record performance. Odds On Monetary persisted for second, 1-1/2 lengths behind the winner while Surreal Spirit finished third.

Cory Stratton trains Savage Cindy, a filly by Huntsville out of the Western Ideal mare Naughty Cindy, for owner/breeder Scarlett Stables of Katonah, New York. 

An NYSS Championship runner-up as a two-year-old, Savage Cindy earned her first NYSS sophomore victory following a win at the Excelsior Series level at Goshen Historic Track last month. Knocking two full seconds off her lifetime mark with the victory, she now sports a career record reading 5-5-2 in 15 starts with earnings soaring over $385,000.

Savage Cindy paid $10.76 to win as the 4-1 second choice.

The win was one of three on the 10-race card for Bailey.

A pair of $27,778 Excelsior divisions were also won by Huntsville daughters as Grazia (Matt Kakaley) scored in 1:52 for trainer Joe Pavia Jr. and Lady Oakley (Braxten Boyd) was victorious in 1:51 for trainer Maria Alvarez.

Live harness racing returns to Vernon Downs on Saturday, Aug. 15, with post time at 5:05 p.m. 

(Standardbred Canada with files from Vernon Downs)