The New York Sire Stakes returns downstate Thursday night (Sept. 6), with Yonkers Raceway hosting the $168,499 Mike Cohen Pace for three-year-old fillies.
The event, remembering the publicity director at the Raceway as well as NBC Sports, has been split into three divisions, carded as races eight, nine and 10.
The $55,833 opening division is seemingly the lightest, with Line Dancer (Jordan Stratton, post 1) retuning to state-bred competition after winning an local overnight two starts ago. The daughter of Art Major, co-owned by (trainer) Ricky Bucci and Blue Meadow Farm, was a Sire Stakes bridesmaid at Monticello last month.
Beachin N Kissin (Jason Bartlett, post 2), Betterthangraduate (Brett Miller, post 3) and Checkered Past (Jim Morrill Jr., post 5) all have recent overnight wins.
The $55,833 second Cohen event finds Solitary (Miller, post 2) returning off a closing second in this past Saturday night’s (Sept. 1) $112,904 Lady Maud. The American Ideal miss, though just 1-for-15 this season, has paid her win against the state-breds.
Newsday (Stratton, post 5) owns a local NYSS win (and another dead heat win at Monticello), while Mink Pink (Bartlett, post 3) was the scourge of the Excelsior ranks earlier in the season.
Thursday night’s $56,833 final Sire Stakes grouping is the marquee matchup, featuring Lady Maud winner Alexis Faith (Morrill, post 4). The daughter of American Ideal won that race in 1:53.4 by extricating herself from the pocket. Alexis Faith trained by Casie Coleman for co-owners West Wins Stable, Jim Fielding, J. Robert Darrow and Kevin McKinlay, is 4-for-11 this season and has amassed earnings of $226,388.
Alexis Faith opposes the red-hot Wisdom Tree (Matt Kakaley, post 1), whose Sire Stakes résumé reads five wins and a second in six tries. The daughter of Betterthancheddar, co-owned by Tom Pollack and Jeff Cullipher and trained by Ed Hart, has won nine of her dozen 2018 tries overall and has banked $246,435. She’s a month out since defeating the Monticello crowd in 1:52.4 and she owns a 1:49.4 lifetime mark, taken the $141,200 Nadia Lobell at Hoosier.
There’s also a coupled entry, comprised of a pair of Ron Burke trainees in Jewels Forreal (George Brennan, post 2) and Tell Me a Joke (Miller, post 7).
Post time for the dozen-race wagering card is 6:50 p.m., however early attendees can watch a good, old-fashioned walkover at 5…30 p.m. Windsun Magnolia (Jim Marohn Jr.) has the oval all to herself in a $6,100 second-level Excelsior event.
(Yonkers Raceway)