As the first start of her career, Liberty Style ($3.10) rolled out in grand style by demolishing the field in the $151,487 New York Sire Stakes for two-year-old pacing fillies at Buffalo Raceway on Wednesday afternoon, June 18. The Andrew Stafford trainee beat stablemate Bueckers by 5-3/4 widening lengths in an impressive 1:57.1 over the fast track.
With an early scuffle to the lead, Ev Does It (Michael Whelan) took control as Liberty Style (Jason Bartlett) and Bueckers (Kevin Cummings) followed along through splits of :28.4 and :58.2. Those wicked fractions proved to be the downfall for Ev Does It as Bartlett tipped Liberty Style out just before the 1:29 three-quarters mark and took off from there, blitzing the field down the stretch, using a :28 final to celebrate her maiden victory. Stablemate Bueckers earned second-place honours with American Cheese (Colin Kelly) third.
Co-owned by Stafford and Bonnie Benson of Lewes, Delaware, Liberty Style (American Ideal-Fly In Style) earned a healthy $75,743 cheque in her racing debut.
In the lone $27,027 Excelsior Series race, Twenty Seven ($7.60, Kevin Cummings) used the home track advantage and beat Delightful Diva (Cory Stratton) by 1-1/4 lengths in 2:01.4. Happy Court (Colin Kelly) showed the way through the first three panels with splits of :30.3, 1:00.4 and 1:31.2 while Twenty Seven sat fourth and began her grind just past the half-mile marker. Turning for home, the first-over Twenty Seven cruised past Happy Court but had to turn back the late bid from Delightful Diva, who settled for second-place honours. Happy Court took the third-place cheque.
Owned and bred by Faire Oaks Farm of nearby Lancaster, New York, Twenty Seven (So Surreal-Terrorcam) is trained by Richard Tomaszewski. She won her career debut after qualifying at Buffalo Raceway on June 6 in 2:00.4.
Kevin Cummings and Drew Monti finished the afternoon with four victories each while Brett Beckwith collected two. Courtney Wright had a pair of training wins.
Racing will return on Friday, June 20 at 2:30 p.m. with 13 races.
(With files from Buffalo Raceway)