Mother Nature definitely was a major factor in Sunday afternoon's New York Sire Stakes for two-year-old filly pacers, but the heavy rains didn't stop Our Hot Majorette, Bin N Heaven and Bossers Joy from registering victories over the 'sloppy' track.
Bin N Heaven and driver Doug McNair posted the fastest time of the three $36,566 divisions with a 1:59.4 mile. Our Hot Majorette and Bossers Joy each lit up the tote board in the other two legs. Our Hot Majorette and Mike Saftic managed to hang on at the wire to score a $23.60 win while Bossers Joy and Brent Holland took the final division and returned $80 for the victory.
The heavy rain made the track a sloppy mess, but Bin N Heaven, entering her race a perfect two-for-two in qualifiers, including a 1:56.3 mile at Mohawk Racetrack, found the wet going to her liking. Taking over the lead just before the three-quarter marker, Bin N Heaven (Rock N Roll Heaven-Binions) paced away from the field and beat Mosquito Blue Chip (Jim Morrill Jr.) by two and a quarter lengths while Fan Mail (Mark MacDonald) finished in third.
"There we no problems at all," McNair said of Bin N Heaven's trip. "She was push button. She went when we needed to go. Those were great fractions considering the weather."
Owned by New York's Frank Bellino and trained by Tony O'Sullivan, Bin N Heaven won her first pari-mutuel start.
The career debuting Our Hot Majorette (Art Major-Shes So Hot) showed plenty of heart in the lane and took the opening leg with a head victory in 2:03.1 over Amertime (MacDonald) in what can only be described as a monsoon rainstorm. Ameritime cut the mile with :31, 1:03 and 1:34.3, but was beaten by Our Hot Majorette in a ding-dong battle down the lane. The heavily favoured Sheeztoughenough (Morrill Jr.) took the show position.
"Wow" was the first comment of Saftic when he returned to the winner's circle. "That was a great trip for her in here. I really couldn't see too much though. That was sure an adventurous trip."
Our Hot Majorette is owned Millar Farms of Newmarket, Ont. and is trained by Eric Adams.
Bossers Joy (Art Major-Esthers Joy) enjoyed the frolic in the wet going and rallied for an impressive head victory over Crucial Moment (Jimmy Whittemore) in the final division. Mydelight Bluechip (Chris Lems) rounded out the top three.
Hitting the half-mile 11 and a quarter lengths behind the leaders, Bossers Joy used a slow and steady journey on the outside to snatch the win, getting up in the shadow of the wire for the upset victory in 2:01.1.
"She really whipped around the track," Holland said of the last half-mile by Bossers Joy. "There were no issues. She raced well." Holland, who tripled on the card, added with a laugh, "We finally got the lead when we wanted it...at the wire."
Bossers Joy is owned by Pennsylvania's Francis Azur and is conditioned by Kevin McDermott.
In the $12,700 Excelsior A Series, Holland took two divisions by steering Bugatti Beauty ($24.00) to a 2:03.2 decision and Jag Out ($3.00) to a 2:02.3 win. Hey Kobe ($6.50) won the other leg for driver John Plutino in 2:02.3.
The Excelsior B Series, worth $6,600, went to Delightful Plan ($4.80) with Jeff Gregory in the sulky. They covered the mile in 2:05.2.
The final week of racing for the 2014 season begins on Wednesday night with a 10-race card program set for 5 p.m.
(With files from Buffalo Raceway)