Finger Lakes meet opens with Ferraro and Coa teaming up again

Although it’s often considered in a lesser light than the New York Racing Association circuit, the meet at Finger Lakes Racetrack, which opens Monday, provides plenty of opportunities for both local horsemen and those shipping in to shine.

Finger Lakes, which opened in 1962, is located in Farmington, N.Y., about a half-hour from Rochester, the closest major city. It generally runs on a Monday-Wednesday schedule to maximize its horse population, with 91 racing days scheduled from April 28-Nov. 26. The first two cards of the meet have drawn an average field size of 7.8 entrants over 16 races, with all those contests over 4 1/2 furlongs.

M. Anthony Ferraro and Keiber Coa led the 2024 trainer and jockey standings, respectively, at Finger Lakes. Ferraro has 10 entrants over the first two days of the meet, including a pair, Freedsdale and Profitability, in the opening-day feature, a $26,500 allowance for 3-year-olds and up who have never won two races. Coa, who outdistanced his closest competitor by nearly 30 wins in last year’s rider standings, has 10 mounts across the first two days of the meet. He partners with Ferraro for half of those, including with morning-line favorite Freedsdale in the allowance.

A thriving local colony of horsemen, many with multi-generational ties to the industry, has launched the careers of a number of national talents, including trainer James Bond and jockey Reylu Gutierrez. The track also provides an opportunity for horsemen based on the NYRA circuit at Saratoga and Aqueduct to ship in and place their horses in different competition.

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A lucrative stakes program for 2- and 3-year-old New York-breds tends to create clashes between NYRA shippers and local talent, highlighting the 14 stakes scheduled for this meet. On July 14, the $150,000 New York Derby shares the stage with the $75,000 New York Oaks and the $50,000 Leon Reed Memorial. In the last 10 editions of the New York Derby, sophomores to win the race include trainees from Steve Asmussen, Chad Brown, Mark Casse, Christophe Clement, and Todd Pletcher, whose 2021 winner, Americanrevolution, went on to be a Grade 1 winner and New York’s horse of the year.

Moving into the fall, 2-year-olds take center stage. Four stakes on Sept. 22 are highlighted by the $100,000 Aspirant Stakes and $100,000 Lady Finger Stakes for statebred juveniles, joined by the $50,000 Niagara Stakes and $50,000 Ontario County Stakes for sophomores. The Aspirant and Lady Finger are local preps toward one of the richest prizes for statebreds, the $200,000 New York Breeders’ Futurity on Oct. 13. That race highlights the single richest card of the meet, supported on the undercard by the $50,000 Genesee Valley Breeders’ Stakes and the $50,000 Jack Betta Be Rite Stakes.

In recent years, Finger Lakes also has hosted claiming series at various distances and for different divisions, offering lucrative targets for the bread-and-butter horses that make up the majority of its horse population.

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