Uncle Rob etched his name into the Buffalo Raceway record books with a track-record performance in the $157,429 New York Sire Stakes first leg for two-year-old trotting males on Wednesday, July 1.
Stablemate and coupled entry Speaker Craig (Tyler Miller) did the heavy lifting on the front end, setting fractions of :29 and :59 through the opening half. With Uncle Rob getting the perfect pocket trip for Andy Miller, Celebrity Dubai (Jason Bartlett) made a big move heading to three-quarters in 1:30.2 and struck the front on the final turn. But Uncle Rob shifted wide turning for home and charged down the long Buffalo stretch to defeat Celebrity Dubai by 1-3/4 lengths in 2:00.3. Mormont (Dan Daley) finished third.
Uncle Rob's mile tied the track mark for two-year-old gelding trotters set by Tobern on July 5, 2023.
Uncle Rob, who had the only previous pari-mutuel start — and victory — among the eight entrants, is now two-for-two in his career. The son of Mets Hall-Jesses Con, who posted a 5-3/4-length win at Harrah's Philadelphia on June 18 in his career debut, is owned by the Andy Miller Stable Inc. and is trained by Julie Miller. The score jumped his earnings to $87,047. He paid $3.88 to win.
In the lone $28,571 Excelsior Series race for the freshman male trotters, Telling Tall Tales ($3.98) and driver Brett Beckwith used the passing lane to top Im Vengeance (John Stark Jr.) in 2:02.4 while Betelgeusebluechip (Kyle Swift) was third. Telling Tall Tales is co-owned by Harmon Racing Stable LLC, William Muggleston and Robert Robinson and is conditioned by Rob Harmon.
Utopia Blue Chip ($6.66) came off cover to win the $21,000 Fillies and Mares Open Pace after back-to-back place finishes in the top class. Dale Spence had her sitting fifth as the favoured Elegant Woman A (Drew Monti) set the pace with splits of :28.2 and :57.4. Utopia Blue Chip tipped out passing the midway point and caught cover from Face The Shadows (Kevin Cummings), following the helmet through three-quarters in 1:26.3. Face The Shadows grinded past Elegant Woman A down the lane, but Utopia Blue Chip tracked her down in deep-stretch to win by a neck in 1:55. Gentrify (Brett MacDonald) closed from seventh at the eighth pole for third.
Utopia Blue Chip, leased and trained by Spence, has five wins in 23 starts this year. The six-year-old daughter of Sweet Lou-Reign On Me is now 22-for-91 lifetime with $351,954 in earnings.
David McNeight III and Monti each had doubles on the 12-racce card.
Racing will return to Buffalo on Friday at 2:30 p.m. with 13 races on tap.
(With files from Buffalo Raceway)