Saratoga Harness: Repentance, Plunge Blue Chip deliver in New York Sire Stakes

A pair of New York Sire Stakes splits for 3-year-old trotting fillies were the marquee events on Friday night at Saratoga Casino, and it would be Repentance and Plunge Blue Chip winning the races.

In the first grouping, which carried a purse of $91,350, Repentance (Jim Morrill Jr.) came up on the outside to get the lead passing the 28 1/5 opening quarter, then was well-rated through middle-half fractions of 58 1/5 and 1:27 2/5 on her way to a 1:57 score. She defeated A Gift For You (Marcus Miller) by a length and a quarter, with Lucky Ava (Ake Svanstedt) coming on to get third after electing to ride the cones near the back of the field.

Linda Toscano trains the Diamond Creek Farm-bred and owned Repentance, a daughter of Chapter Seven. This was Repentance's sixth career win, and she has now earned $230,560. She was the 9-5 second choice and paid $5.80 to win.

The second $89,950 flight saw Plunge Blue Chip (Svanstedt) work her way to the lead around stablemate Natalie Hanover (Daniel Dube) at the 29 1/5 opening quarter. It was all Plunge Blue Chip from there, as she hit the half in 59 1/5, the three-quarters in 1:55 3/5, and the finish line in 1:55 3/5. Tribute To Seven (Wally Hennessey) got around Natalie Hanover late for second, 7 1/2 lengths behind the winner.

A daughter of Muscle Mass, Plunge Blue Chip is also trained by Svanstedt, and his stable co-owns her with Blue Chip Bloodstock Inc., Tomas Andersson, and Rick Zeron Stables. She is now a 14-time winner, and she pushed her bankroll to $777,291. She went off with Natalie Hanover as a 1-9 favored entry and returned $2.10 across-the-board.