Dayson shattered the track record for three-year-old trotters Tuesday night when he toured the half-mile oval at Saratoga Casino Hotel in 1:54.2.
The Ron Burke trainee was a dominant force among two-year-old highsteppers in the New York Sire Stakes last year, and has continued his winning ways as a sophomore in 2016. Dayson came to town fresh off his career best score at the Meadowlands on Friday when he trotted to a convincing victory in 1:51.2 with Yannick Gingras in the sulky.
Gingras was on hand at the Spa on Tuesday and didn’t wait long to make his move with the 1-5 betting favourite in the $88,350 New York Sire Stake for colts and geldings.
Dayson stretched out his lead around the final turn on major danger Dante (Ake Svanstedt) and trotted away to win by seven lengths. The son of Conway Hall stopped the timer in 1:54.2 besting the previous track record by a full second.
Smalltownthrowdown (Cash Hall) won the other division of the NYSS as he went wire-to-wire for trainer/driver Dan Daley in a race contested for a purse of $89,950.
Smalltownthrowdown scored in 1:54.4 which served as a track record of his own.
The 1:54.4 is a record for three year old trotting colts (as opposed to Dayson who set the mark for geldings.) Smalltownthrowdown’s convincing victory came at odds of 1-5.