Saratoga Harness: Favorites don't disappoint in New York Sire Stakes

A pair of New York Sire Stakes divisions for 3-year-old filly pacers were in the spotlight on Sunday afternoon at Saratoga Casino Hotel.

Liberty Style (Jason Bartlett), the sire stakes champion for this group a year ago, led through fractions of 27 3/5, 56 4/5 and 1:25 2/5 en route to winning the first $87,000 split in 1:52 3/5. She defeated pocket-sitter Two Twenty Swift (Yannick Gingras) by 3 1/4 lengths, with Carry Back (Braxten Boyd) in third.

There was an inquiry on Liberty Style after the race to see if she interfered with pole-sitter American Sunshine (Leon Bailey), who broke on the opening bend while Liberty Style was looping her, but the judges determined no infractions were committed and left the result as-is.

By American Ideal and bred by Dr. Stephen Dey III, Liberty Style is trained by Andrew Stafford, who also co-owns her with Bonnie Benson. Liberty Style has six wins and a third from 11 outings, has put away $362,209 and paid $4.10 to win.

In the other $85,500 section, Odds On Monetary (Matt Kakaley) pulled out of the pocket before the 28 second opening quarter and took the lead away from Saulsbrook Rolo (Wally Hennessey) past that marker. Odds On Monetary went on to hit the half in 57 2/5 and the three-quarters in 1:25 2/5, and although Existential (Gingras) loomed from first-over after she tipped out of the three-hole on the third turn, Odds On Monetary was able to ward her off by a length and a quarter in 1:53 1/5. Saulsbrook Rolo broke stride in the lane and crossed the wire third, but she was demoted to fourth behind Ideal Beauty Queen (Boyd) after an inquiry.

Trained by Travis Alexander and owned by Odds On Racing, Odds On Monetary is a Crawford Farms-bred Huntsville filly. She has a summary of 5-2-1 from 12 starts, has banked $212,875 and returned $4.38 to win.

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Winning $20,000 Excelsior Series tests were:

--Bueckers (by American Ideal and bred by Dr. Stephen Dey III, paid $3.28 to win) in 1:55 2/5 for driver Jason Bartlett, co-owner/trainer Andrew Stafford and co-owners Bonnie Benson and Ethan Stafford;

--She's In The Juice (by In The Arsenal and bred by Mary Martin and co-owner Roger Dirlam, paid $3.48 to win) in 1:57 2/5 for driver Wally Hennessey and co-owner/trainer Lisa Martin;

--Onaorchardhunt (by Huntsville and bred by George Zitone, paid $4.16 to win) in 1:55 4/5 for driver Wally Hennessey, trainer Nifty Norman and owner Matthew Bassett;

--Grazia (by Huntsville and bred by Whiskeyontherocks Racing, paid $2.28 to win) in 1:55 1/5 for driver Jason Bartlett, trainer Joe Pavia Jr. and owners Vincent Ferriero Jr., Pint Size Racing LLC., Dominic Pavia and Steven Held.