Buffalo: Sophomore male pacers compete in NY Sire Stakes events

The New York Sire Stakes circuit paid a visit to Buffalo Raceway on Wednesday afternoon, as 3-year-old colt and gelding pacers faced off in a pair of divisions worth $56,000 and $57,000.

1-5 favorite I'l Drink To That (Jim Morrill Jr.) didn't disappoint in the first flight, winning easily in 1:53 1/5. Starting from the outside post six, I'll Drink To That tucked into third early, then moved two-wide and took command after a 27 3/5 opening quarter. From there, I'll Drink To That showed the way through a 55 3/5 half and a 1:24 three-quarters, opened up a gap on the rest of the horses, and won by 5 1/4 lengths over Bottle Rocket (Mike Whelan). King James Express (Matt Kakaley), last year's sire stakes champion for this group, rallied from sixth to third in the last quarter.

An American Ideal colt, I'll Drink To That is trained by Chris Ryder for owners Craig Henderson, Lawrence Minowitz, Robert Mondillo, and Oompa's Farm Inc. I'll Drink To That now has a record of 4-4-0 from ten career starts, and he has earned $113,391. He paid $2.50 to win.

In the other section Major Bean (Kakaley) was well-rated through opening-half stations of 29 2/5 and 58, but he came under attack from a first-over Southwind Petyr (Marcus Miller) going to the 1:25 3/5 three-quarters. Southwind Petyr, who was the favorite, wore Major Bean down on the final bend and turned for home first, but pocket-sitter Stop Staring (Mark MacDonald) had room to angle out behind Southwind Petyr on the last turn, then swung to his outside for the drive. Southwind Petyr had the jump, but Stop Staring had the better kick when it counted and got up to score by a head in 1:53 3/5. Mullinax (Morrill Jr.) got up for third.

"He's a nice little guy and loves the half-mile tracks, trains on them, so we figured he'd have no problems here," MacDonald said of Stop Staring. "The horse won his last two at Yonkers and is a lot better than what the program shows."

Ray Schnittker trains and co-owns Stop Staring, a gelded son of So Surreal, with partners Ted Gewertz, Steven Arnold, and Paul Bordogna. Winless in eight appearances as a freshman, Stop Staring now has three victories as a 3-year-old, and he has banked $91,658 in total. Dispatched at odds of 6-1, Stop Staring returned $14.40 to win.

--quote courtesy of Buffalo Raceway--