Monticello: Liberty Style, Odds On Monetary reign in New York Sire Stakes

Monticello Raceway welcomed the 3-year-old pacing fillies from the New York Sire Stakes circuit to town on Monday afternoon for a pair of divisions that were won by Liberty Style (Jason Bartlett) and Odds On Monetary (Matt Kakaley).

Liberty Style is the defending sire stakes champion for this group, and she's now three-for-three in 2026 after she took the first $59,100 split in 1:53. She moved up on the outside to take the top spot away from early leader Savage Cindy (Jordan Stratton) past the 27 4/5 quarte and then continued to show the way to the half in 57 seconds and the three-quarters in 1:25 3/5. Liberty Style would turn away a first-over attempt by Two Twenty Swift (Jim Taggart Jr.) on the final bend, and also kept Savage Cindy at bay through the lane, defeating that foe by a length and a quarter. Ideal Beauty Queen (Braxten Boyd) collected third.

Trainer Andrew Stafford also co-owns Liberty Style, a daughter of American Ideal, with partner Bonnie Benson. Bred by Dr. Stephen Dey III, Liberty Style has eight wins and a third from 13 starts, has pocketed $452,659 and paid $2.22 to win.

In the other $58,000 flight, Odds On Monetary went right to the front from post two, put up panels of 27 4/5, 56 2/5 and 1:25 1/5, and closed in 28 seconds to defeat pocket-sitter Hunting Memories (Boyd) by a length and a quarter in 1:53 1/5. Surreal Spirit (Jeff Gregory), the 4-5 favorite, tried a first-over move out of third going to three-quarters but couldn't make any headway.

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Travis Alexander trains Odds On Monetary, a filly by Huntsville, for owner Odds On Racing. The Crawford Farms-bred has a summary of 7-2-1 from 15 efforts, has put away $255,715 and returned $4.20 to win.

Winning the three $20,000 New York Excelsior Series splits on the program were:

--Grazia (by Huntsville and bred by Whiskeyontherocks Racing, paid $2.92 to win) in 1:54 1/5 for driver Jason Bartlett, trainer Joe Pavia Jr. and owners Vincent Ferriero Jr., Pint Size Racing LLC., Dominic Pavia and Steven Held;

--Long Shore (by American IDeal and bred by Fair Winds Farm Inc., paid $2.40 to win) in 1:55 1/5 for driver Matt Kakaley, trainer Joe Pavia Jr. and owners Vincent Ferriero Jr., Dominic Pavia, Eric Prevost and Todd Frocione;

--Bueckers (by American Ideal and bred by Dr. Stephen Dey III, paid $2.10 to win) in 1:53 3/5 for driver Jason Bartlett, co-owner/trainer Andrew Stafford and co-owners Bonnie Benson and Ethan Stafford.