Fans of horse racing will be treated to a world-class afternoon of racing at Tioga Downs on Sunday, August 20 headlined by the $200,000 (est) Roll With Joe Open Pace presented by Blue Chip Farms and the $500,000 (est) Empire Breeders Classic Finals for the premier New York-sired three-year-old pacers.
Off the track, fans will have a unique opportunity to enter a contest to name a baby horse that will hopefully go on to compete at the sport’s highest levels. The foal, a baby horse less than one year old, was bred at Jeff and Paula Gural’s Allerage Farms in nearby Sayre, PA.
Race fans in attendance on Sunday will have the chance to submit their best name for the filly. The filly is a daughter of the stallion Yankee Glide and her mother is Love Tale. A representative from Allerage Farms will pick their three favourite names and the winner will be the name that receives the most applause from the crowd. The person who submits the winning name will then receive 1 percent of the horse’s earnings during its two- and three-year-old racing seasons. For complete contest rules visit tiogadowns.com.
The Empire Breeders Classic will feature a deep and talented group of sophomore pacers. In the colts and geldings division, odds-on favourites Miso Fast and Funknwaffles were narrowly defeated in last Sunday’s eliminations by In A Single Bound and Art Scene respectively. In the third elimination, Heavens Gait was a four-length winner and has now won four straight races and six of his last seven.
Heavily-favoured Clear Idea and Tequila Monday won the pair of eliminations for the fillies and loom as the ones to beat in Sunday’s final.
Clear Idea, trained by Blake MacIntosh, has won seven in a row and earned more than $188,000 this year. Tequila Monday won her elimination a full second faster than Clear Idea and has had success on the Grand Circuit this season, winning the Lismore Final at Yonkers and finishing third in the $321,200 Fan Hanover at Mohawk.
Post time for Sunday’s spectacular program is 1:00 p.m. Besides the three headlining stakes, the card also includes the third leg of the Miss Versatility for the sport’s top trotting mares and two-year-old divisions of the Tompkins-Geers Stakes.
(Tioga Downs)