Fashion Hill took advantage of an unusual circumstance, and it ended up helping her shatter the Buffalo Raceway two-year-old filly pacing track record with a 1:55.3 victory in the first $54,000 division of the New York Sire Stakes on Wednesday night (July 3).
She crushed the old standard of 1:56.2 established in 2016 by Shes A Billionair.
Winning driver Tyler Buter said of the unique trip with Fashion Hill: "Kevin's (Cummings) horse (Sugaronthebeach) kept hitting her foot on the bike, and the noise scared mine that she wanted to go a thousand miles an hour. She (Sugaronthebeach) finally stopped hitting it around the half-mile pole and my horse then settled down."
Racing right to the lead, Fashion Hill set the blazing fractions of :29, :57.1 and 1:26.4. It appeared that So Rude (Matt Kakaley) and The Fun Marshall (Billy Davis Jr.) were going to take shots at the leader down the stretch, but Fashion Hill never looked back in posting a 1-1/4 length victory. So Rude took the place position and The Fun Marshall was third.
"She had a lot left at the end of the race," Buter said of Fashion Hill (American Ideal-Taxi Fare Hanover). "I wasn't worried about a track record; I was concerned in getting her around the track." He added, "I want to thank the connections (trainer Chris Oakes) and the owner (Tom Hill) for the opportunity.
In the second Sire Stakes division, Cummings used home track advantage to guide Racine Bell ($8.50) to a 1:57.1 victory over Galleria Gal (Buter). Rare Jimstone (Morrill) was third.
"It's a tough track to get around, but having the knowledge racing here helps," Cummings said. "It looked like she (Racine Bell) could get around a half-mile track pretty well. After looking at her last race at Monticello, I wanted to get her to the lead."
Scoring from post 6, Racine Bell (So Surreal-Tys Artist) got to the top and showed the way through splits of :29.2, :59.3 and 1:29. Galleria Gal made a sustained charge in the lane, but came up just a nose short.
"She dug in and showed a lot of guts late," Cummings said of Racine Belle.
Owned by Chris and Dale Lawton and trained by David Dewhurst, it was the second win in three career appearances for Racine Bell. The victory upped her seasonal earnings to $35,125.
In the lone $15,000 Excelsior A Series event, Twin B Salsa (Cummings) covered the mile in 1:59 and returned $7.50 to her backers.
There was a $6,300 event in the Excelsior B Series, with Twin B Infinity (Kakaley) taking the non-betting affair in 2:03.3. The win gave trainer Blake MacIntosh a sweep of the Excelsior races.
Cummings, Davis and Morrill each had driving doubles, while Maria Rice and James Clouser Jr. collected a pair of training wins apiece.
Racing will continue on Friday evening (July 5) at 5 p.m. with a 12-race program scheduled.
For more information, including race replays, results, entries, upcoming promotions and simulcast schedule, go to www.buffaloraceway.com.
(Buffalo Raceway)