Driver Jason Bartlett steered two winners from four divisions for the fourth preliminary of New York Sires Stakes (NYSS) at Monticello Raceway on Monday, July 1.
Sandys Bolt scored a wire-to-wire win in his division of NYSS. The son of Bolt the Duer–White Sand cut fractions of :28.1, :59 and 1:27.3 to score a six-length victory in 1:56.2, a lifetime best. It was the second Sire Stake win in a row for Sandys Bolt, who's trained by Jose Godinez and driven by Jason Barlett. The 1/5 favourite paid $2.70 to win while Linus finished second and Ideal Artillery third.
Jason Bartlett picked up his second win of the afternoon with Save Me A Dance in the third division of NYSS. The son of Heston Blue Chip-Dance Hall Girl followed the winning formula all afternoon and led from start to finish to win by a length over Slash Brother in 1:56.1. Save Me A Dance also earned his first lifetime win for trainer Andrew Harris and owner Robert Key of Leechburg, PA.
Starting from the pylons, Always On The Hunt led at every pole to score a scant nose win over Level Up in 1:56:1 to tie the fastest mile of the afternoon. Always On The Hunt and Level Up dueled in the lane with 10 lengths on the rest of the pack. The Ray Schnittker trainee was driven to the win by Mark MacDonald earned his first victory. The son of American Ideal–Beachesofcheyenne now has $22,912 in earnings.
In the final dash, driver Matt Kakaley placed Groovy Joe in the pocket while I Rolled the Dice tripped the teletimer at every station except the finish line. Groovy Joe was the first to pull past the half to start the outer flow and tracked the pacesetter before kicking away by two lengths to win in 1:56.4. Groovy Joe went off the 3-5 favourite and paid $3.00 for the win. It was the second consecutive Sire Stake win for the son of Roll With Joe-Chotak Milk.
In Excelsior A competition the winners were, Surreal Sergeant ($7.70; 2:00), Fear The Past ($3.40; 2:01.2) and Chief Of Staff ($31.20; 2:01.1). The lone Excelsior B dash was won by Latin King ($9.90; 1:59.1).
(with files from Monticello Raceway)