Saratoga Harness: Unmatched Wisdom, Fragment deliver in NY Sire Stakes

Unmatched Wisdom and Fragment went home with the victories from a pair of New York Sire Stakes tests for 3-year-old male pacers on Sunday afternoon at Saratoga Casino Hotel.

Driven by Leon Bailey in the first $82,500 split, Unmatched Wisdom moved up on the outside to take the lead away from Knoxville (Tyler Buter) beyond the 26 1/5 quarter. From there, Unmatched Wisdom went on to click off middle-half fractions of 55 1/5 and 1:23 3/5 before he closed in 28 3/5 to win by half a length over a gaining Mighty Matt (Braxten Boyd). Knoxville wound up third.

An American Ideal gelding bred by Robert Newman, Unmatched Wisdom is trained by Chuck Connor Jr. for owners Scott McGee, Jim Fielding, Kevin McKinlay and John Stronka. He has a summary of 7-3-0 from 13 starts, has earned $89,700 and paid $4.36 to win.

Defending sire stakes champion Fragment (Colin Kelly) suffered broken equipment before the start when both of his headpoles came loose, but he worked out a second-over trip off panels of 27 2/5, 55 2/5 and 1:23, vaulted into the lead in the lane after being sent three-wide, and pulled away to score by 3 1/4 lengths in 1:51 4/5. Fearless Partners (Jacob Cutting) was second after a first-over journey and Hunthehuntr De Vie (Mark Herschberger) checked in third.

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Per Engblom trains Fragment, a colt by Huntsville, for owners Engblom Farm LLC., Douglas Sipple and Peaceful Acre Farm. Bred by Steve Stewart, Black Creek Farm, Michael Robinson and South Mountain Stables, Fragment has ten wins and two seconds from 17 efforts, has pocketed $627,607 and returned $2.48 to win.

Taking three $20,000 Excelsior Series contests were:

-River Ranch Dawson (by American Ideal and bred by Princeton Farms with John Lamers, paid $4.10 to win) in 1:57 for driver Braxten Boyd, trainer Jenny Melander and owner Peter Venturini;

-Jericho Johnny (by Courtly Choice and bred by owner Gary Smith, paid $3.06 to win) in 1:55 2/5 for trainer/driver Larry Stalbaum;

-Zod (by Huntsville and bred by owner Fiddler's Creek Stables LLC., paid $28.12 to win) in 1:56 3/5 for driver Ridge Warren and trainer Travis Alexander.