Go down the road as fast and far as you can go seemed to be the tactic of the day as many of the afternoon participants of Monticello Raceway’s Sire Stakes for three-year-old trotting colts tried to follow that pattern. Some were successful, others not.
The first division of NYSS raced for a purse of $38,500, and the short, five-horse field saw Don (Andy Miller) first away from the gate from the rail. Dan Daley and Purpose Blue Chip also left hard but were content to let Don cut the fractions of :28.4 and :58.2.
Purpose Blue Chip pulled at the half and never saw the rail after that and continued grinding his way towards the leaders on the outside. Don was still on top at the three-quarter pole in 1:27.3 with Purpose Blue Chip was at his throat latch. At the top of the lane, Don and Purpose Blue Chip were trotting in unison but Purpose Blue Chip prevailed over Don by a length. A fast-closing On The Ropes (Svanstedt) finished third.
The son of Chapter Seven notched his third win of the season for owners Daley, Crawford and Lombardo.
“I put the trotting hopples on him a month ago to help steady him out and it really worked, he can really trot the turns fast now,” said Dan Daley.
Babylons Bridge (Credit Winner) completed the ‘Daley Double’ scoring in the second half of the Daily Double in 2:01.3 in Excelsior B ranks.
In the second division worth $39,200, 14-1 Lindseys Pride and Marcus Miller cut the early fractions without any pressure in :29 and :59.1. The 1-9 favourite, The Veteran, was the first to start the outer flow at the half followed by Winning Shadow. Lindseys Pride still had the lead at the three-quarter pole in 1:28.1 but The Veteran was gaining even but the effort soon stalled near the paddock turn.
Winning Shadow who followed live cover fanned out in the lane and passed The Veteran to win in 1:57.4 by a diminishing length. The Veteran was second, and Cruising In Style was third.
Winning Shadow picked up his third win of the year for owners Our Horse Cents and J And T Silva.
The son of Credit Winner is trained by Jake Huff and was driven to victory by Mike Simons. Not respected by the betting public, Winning Shadow paid $27.80.
In the third and final division of Sire Stakes ($39,200) starting from post 5 Clive Bigsby and Scott Zeron lead at every stanza :28.3, :58 and 1:27.2 with the heavy favourite Chasin Dreams sitting the pocket.
Perlucky and Trond Smedshammer were content stalking the leaders in fourth. At the three-quarter pole Perlucky was the first to move. The son of Lucky Chucky tried to pull up passing the paddock draw gate, Smedshammer barked at his mount to pay attention and he quickly responded and trotted home strong to win in a tight three-horse photo in 1:57.2 over Clive Bigsby and Chasin Dreams.
It was the first seasonal win for Perlucky and his owner Purple Haze Stable LLC of Fairport NY.
The 2-5 favourite, Lunar Credit, in rein to Scott Zeron beat up the Excelsior A bunch again and picked up his fifth consecutive win for trainer George Ducharme in 1:59.1. Im The Muscle was second, followed by Massamillion.
The son of Credit Winner is owned by Little E LLC, Geiger, Stolz and Living The Dream Racing.
Seven Iron ($8.50) lead from start to finish to win by three lengths in 1:57.4 for driver Jason Bartlett, recent Hall of Fame nominee Linda Toscano trains the son of Chapter Seven for owner Ken Jacobs.
Troller (Marcus Miller) also scored a wire-to-wire win in 1:58, trotting the fastest last quarter of the afternoon in :28.3 for trainer Paul Kelly for his third win in a row.
Pappagiorgio (Muscle Mass) and Dan Cappello scored a wire to wire win in 1:59.1 for his fourth seasonal win.
Blue Chip Farms’ Credit Winner led all sires with three winning sons on the program.
(Monticello)