Buffalo: Groovy Joe Impressive In NYSS

Groovy Joe ($8.40) stamped himself as one of the top 2-year-old male pacers on the New York Sire Stakes circuit on Wednesday night (July 10) as he rolled to a dominating 5-1/4 length triumph over the highly-touted Sandy's Bolt in 1:54 3/5 at Buffalo Raceway.

It was the third consecutive win for Groovy Joe in the NYSS. He just missed the 2-year-old colt track record of 1:54 2/5 in capturing the first $52,000 division.

Oreo Dream Xtreme ($3.40) used the long Buffalo Raceway stretch to his advantage and rallied past the pace-setting Teton Sunset in 1:57 1/5 to take the second bracket.

In what was expected to be an early career showdown between the two undefeated colts, Groovy Joe got the upper hand over Sandy's Bolt in their first meeting with the impressive win.

"He's good on a half mile track," winning driver Matt Kakaley said of Groovy Joe (Roll With Joe-Chotat Milk). "He's just a very nice colt."

Setting the hot fractions of 27 4/5, 57 1/5 and 1:26 3/5, Groovy Joe braced for a move by the pocket-sitting Sandy's Bolt (Jason Bartlett) with a final panel to race but that never materialized. Groovy Joe instead unleashed a final mark of 28 seconds which dashed Sandy's Bolt's hopes of the win. Major Asset (Mike Simons) took third.

"I wasn't worried the last quarter mile," Kakaley said. "I knew he (Groovy Joe) was that good."

Co-owned by trainer Blake MacIntosh and the Hutt Racing Stable, Groovy Joe is now a perfect 3-for-3 with $58,925 in earnings thus far.

In the second division, Oreo Dream Xtreme (Bartlett) let Teton Sunset (Mark MacDonald) do all the dirty work on the front end then cruised on past in the lane to take the victory. Major On The Beach (Kakaley) grabbed the show position.

"The race went as planned," Bartlett said of the journey with Oreo Dream Xtreme. "He was a little 'steppy' around the final turn but once he straightened out, I wasn't worried."

Teton Sunset put up reasonable fractions of 29 1/5 59 and 1:28 4/5 but couldn't answer the bell when Oreo Dream Xtreme roared on by in the lane.

Co-owned by Crawford Farms Racing, J. Crawford, Happy Hour Racing and R. Preziotti, it was the first career win for Oreo Dream Xtreme (American Ideal-Spotlight On). The decision upped his season earnings to $38,842.

In the two $15,000 Excelsior A events, American Mojo blew up the tote board with a $62.00 win for driver Kevin Cummings in 2:01 4/5 while Sunsetboozecruise ($2.80) covered the mile in 1:56 1/5 for Jim Morrill Jr.

Redemptionbluechip (Bartlett) captured the $6,500 Excelsior B race with a 1:59 and returned $2.80 for the popular victory.

Cummings finished the program with three victories while Ray Fisher Jr. and Bartlett each had doubles. Trainers Ryan Swift and John Butenschoen conditioned two winners.

Racing will resume on Friday evening at 5 p.m. with an 11-race program set. There's a $1,533 carryover in the Pick-5 which begins in the second race.

-edited release (Brian Mazurek for Buffalo)