Buffalo: Six-figure purses on the line in Wednesday's NYSS tests

The front-end was the place to be on a rainy Wednesday afternoon (June 26) at Buffalo Raceway as a pair of big-purse New York Sire Stakes races were captured in wire-to-wire fashion.

Super Duper Cooper ($4.00) was 'super' in taking the $119,800 event for the 3-year-old colt and gelding trotters while Sister Mary Maude ($4.20) cruised to the victory in the $117,700 race for the 3-year-old trotting fillies.

With rain starting to fall just before the featured trotting races, the track was downgraded from fast to sloppy.

Super Duper Cooper (Jason Bartlett) got the early jump on the field and marched out fractions of 29 2/5, 59 2/5 and 1:29 4/5 in the first test. Keep Asking (Tyler Buter) sat in the pocket in second while Victor Laszlo (Mark MacDonald) was first-over and in contention with a final panel to go. But Super Duper Cooper stayed strong on the front-end and held back the timid rallies from Keep Asking and Victor Laszlo, who had to settle for second and third, respectively. His margin of victory was 1 1/4 lengths.

Owned by Timothy Drag, James Crawford and Carl Austin Jr., Super Duper Cooper (E L Titan-Pink Power) is trained by John Butenschoen. The victory, the third in six attempts in 2024, jumped Super Duper Cooper's seasonal earnings to $100,248 and $200,357 in his career.

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In the main event for the ladies, Sister Mary Maude (Ronnie Wrenn Jr.) let Sadbirdstillsing enjoy the top for a few steps before retaking the advantage nearing the opening quarter marker. With splits of 29 3/5, 59 4/5 and 1:29 3/5 posted, Sister Mary Maude was looking for any threats heading down the long Buffalo Raceway home stretch. None materialized. With Sadbirdstillsing (Buter) and Winning Alliance (Todd Ratchford) nearly two lengths behind at the top of the lane, Sister Mary Maude easily stayed on task and rolled to the convincing 2 1/2 length decision.

Owned by the Burke Racing Stable, William Switala, James Martin and Weaver Bruscemi, it was the first win of the year after five straight second-place finishes for Sister Mary Maude (Crazy Wow-Perfect Mass). The victory increased her seasonal bankroll to $116,090 and $232,548 lifetime.

In the $20,000 Excelsior Series races for the 3-year-old colt and gelding trotters, Woweress (Buter) notched a neck victory over Pepper Wow in 1:58 1/5 while Tobern (John Stark Jr.) posted a $20.00 upset with a stunning 8 1/4 length score over Promises Met (Jim Morrill Jr.) in 1:59 1/5.

The bracket for the sophomore ladies saw Communion Money (Jared Bako) roll to a 9 1/4 length victory over Shirin (Hunter Myers) in 1:58 3/5 while Osodevious (Bartlett) topped Really Don't Care (MacDonald) in 2:01.

In the $14,000 Open Pace for the fillies and mares, Flip The Script came from last to first and beat Center Attraction (James McNeight Jr.) by a mere nose in 1:57 4/5. Drew Monti steered the winner to the $15.60 triumph.

Racing will return on Friday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. with 12 races scheduled.

--press release (Buffalo)--