True Day Dream and Jim Meittinis captured Saturday night’s $35,383 division of the Tompkins-Geers Stakes for three-year-old trotting fillies at Tioga Downs.
Leaving from post position number four in a field of eight, Meittinis settled True Day Dream in second as he relinquished the lead to the favoured Andie Sophia (Cat Manzi) by the quarter in :28.1. Andie Sophia, who was coming off of her Hudson Trot victory, then led the field through fractions of :57.4 and 1:26.4 with her main contender sitting on Manzi’s helmet. As the field headed into the stretch, Meittinis moved True Day Dream to the outside and battled Andie Sophia through the stretch to get up and win by a length and a half in 1:56.
Dan O’Mara trains the Infinitif–Tenacious Victory filly for owner Joseph Hess. Andie Sophia (Cat Manzi) finished second, while Silver Credit (Jim Marohn Jr.) finished third.
The other division winner for the three-year-old trotting fillies was Southwind Cocoa (Jeff Gregory) in 1:57.2, after the 2-5 betting favourite Classic Martine made a break just past the quarter. Classic Martine (Jim Marohn Jr.) did rebound after dropping to last to close and finished second.
The Chocolatier-Missymae Bluestone filly is trained by Linda Toscano for owners Richard Gutnick and William Augustine.
In the $62,766 lone division for three-year-old trotting colts, Pine Credit received an extremely patient drive from Brandon Simpson and it paid off.
Simpson sat in with Pine Credit fifth as the field was led through fractions of :28.4 and :58.3 by Crazy About Pat (Cat Manzi). As the field passed by three-quarters in 1:27.3, Simpson found room to his right and slid Pine Credit to the outside. The duo began tracking horses three-wide around the final turn, and as they entered the stretch, he was picking up ground on the leader Crazy About Pat with every stride. Pine Credit got up to win in the final strides over Crazy About Pat by a neck in 1:56.4, for his first seasonal victory of the year for trainer Erv Miller.
Miller shares ownership of the Credit Winner-Ms Piggy Pine colt with Harvey Eisman and Paymaq Racing.
Sunday afternoon wraps up the Grand Circuit Tompkins-Geers stakes for 2013. The fun starts at 1:30 p.m.
(With files from Tioga Downs)