Monticello Raceway will play host to the New York Sire Stakes for the first time this season on Tuesday, July 11 when three-year-old trotting fillies take centre stage.
There will be two divisions of Sire Stakes, each split racing for $59,100, three divisions of the Excelsior A class ($15,000) and a pair for the Excelsior B class, going for a purse of $6,800 each.
The first division of regular Sire Stakes is in race one and pits the top two fillies of the state against each other, Barn Bella and Mamora Bay.
Barn Bella, who won last year’s NYSS Final, will start from the rail, with regular driver Jeff Gregory. The Conway Hall–Bravissima is filly is owned by Steven and Nancy Pratt and Purple Haze Stable and sports a respectable tally of $354,645 in lifetime earnings and a lifetime mark of 1:51.3, taken in the Empire Breeders Classic last month at Tioga Downs. She comes into the race with six wins in seven starts this year -- her only miscue was at Buffalo Raceway when she made a break and opened the door for bridesmaid Mamora Bay.
Mamora Bay (post six) is very familiar with the Monticello oval as she won as a two-year-old in 2:00:1 at the Mighty M oval. The Chapter Seven–Giulie lass has a win and a second in Sire Stakes competition thus far this year. She will be driven by trainer Sam Schillaci for owner Peter F. Barbato. She had a win last week at Buffalo in 1:59.4 and a second-place finish Tioga Downs, with $41,433 earned in 2017 and a mark of 1:57.3. She comes into the race with a solid base under her with four qualifiers and three stakes events under her belt. She will need to be tight starting from the outside.
Race eight is the second Sire Stakes division with six starters. Celebrity Ruth, the 5-2 morning line favourite starting from post two, looks to be the one to beat fresh off her second-place finish in the Empire Breeders Classic. She has one NYSS win this year at Tioga, and finished second in the Lady Suffolk. The Archangel-Celebrity Obsesion filly has earned $90,971 thus far this year with a record of 1:53.4 and is trained and driven by Trond Smedshammer for owner White Birch Farm.
Maewegonow (post four), trained and driven by the capable Charlie Norris, will also be in the hunt. She was second last start at Buffalo behind Mamora Bay, and visited the winner's circle at Tioga Downs in the same company.
On paper, Prairie Diamonds (Diamond Goal–Princess Cosette) looks the one the to beat in the first division of the Excelsior A Class in race two. Fresh off her win at Tioga Downs in 1:56.4 in overnight company, she will start from post four and is 3-1.
Cinnamon Prayer (post seven) sports a four race win streak coming in to the third race. The Prayer I Am-Cinnamon Caviar filly is trained by the Dennis Laterza, who is always a threat at Monticello, and will be driven by Jim Morrill Jr. for owner Roy Dobbins.
The last division of the A class, race six, features local talent Comfort To A Fool (Credit Winner-I Promisenottotell). She is trained longtime Monticello horseman Gary Messenger and co-owned by Messenger in conjunction with Scott Woogen.
Post time for the afternoon's Sire Stakes program is at 12:50 p.m.
(With files from Monticello Raceway)