The best fillies and colts in the County Fair divisions of the New York Sire Stakes program convened at Monticello Raceway on Thursday, August 30 to compete in their respective $10,000 divisional finals and most raced like seasoned veterans.
As often happens in stakes events some dominate, which was the case in the trotting divisions.
Harold “call me Joe” Smith and Ashes Cash, a freshman of Kash Hall-Ashameg, annihilated their competition in the two-year-old trot final when they scored a 20-length triumph in a time of 2:02.1. Far back in second place was Paradise Paintball (Michael Miller), who was a length better than Sandy Rose (Ron Abbott). For Ashes Cash, a home-bred owned by his driver, it marked the colt’s ninth triumph in 10 starts, which boosted his bankroll to over $20,000. He paid just $2.80 for win.
Equally impressive was the 2:00.1 mile trotted by Enough Kash in the three-year-old trot final. The daughter of Cash Hall-Fashionablefilly, driven by her co-owner, Doug Ackley, romped to an eased-up five length victory over the Howard Okusko-driven Belles Of Churton. Honey Muffin finished third for Truman Gale. The only time this homebred filly was beaten -- she finished second -- was in an Excelsior Series trot at Batavia Downs on July 28. Her seasonal stats show 15 wins in 16 starts and purses in excess of $28,000. Despite her impressive stats Enough Kash, owned by Doug and Tyra Joanne Ackley, returned a $7.40 mutuel.
The two-year-old pacing saw River Rising turn in yet another impressive victory when the daughter of Riverboat King-Ashlee Lynn made a laugher out of her contest when she romped to a 17-length victory in a time of 1:59. Chris Lems was at the controls and used the front-end route to out-pace second place finisher Ahead Of The Crowd driven by John Mc Kearin. Three lengths farther back in third place was Winlightnstrikes handled by Dave Fisher. Owned by Andy Gardner, River Rising, a $2,000 purchase at Harrisburg last fall, paid $3.40 for win.
The only upset in the divisions came in the three-year-old pacing final when Lee Dahn hustled Officer Candidate to a rousing 1:57.3 victory over Neptune and Joe Chindano in a thrilling finish. At the wire the two pacers were heads apart, but it was the 14-1 shot who prevailed. Officer Candidate, a son of Riverboat King-One Sad Bister, was a $4,700 purchase at the Morrisville Sale last year. He’s co-owned by his driver and Larry Dahn and paid $30.40 for win. With his victory the colt took a new lifetime mark and now has seasonal earnings of $17,478.
(Monticello Raceway)