Shesastonecoldfox, Tin Cup Chalice runners eye first stakes win
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The final two stakes races of the Finger Lakes season take place on Monday, with the $45,000 Shesastonecoldfox Stakes and $45,000 Tin Cup Chalice Stakes. Two juveniles from these fields of seven and nine, respectively, will come away with their first stakes victories – and will join the races’ namesakes as stakes-winning 2-year-olds at the Farmington, N.Y., track.
Although none of the fillies in the field for the Shesastonecoldfox have yet won a stakes, Victory Hall and Mobelladream do have some positive stakes experience against statebreds. Monday’s races are open company, but the fields are dominated by New York-breds. Victory Hall won two of her first three starts at Delaware Park and Saratoga. In her first start for trainer John Ortiz, in the Maid of the Mist at Aqueduct, she brushed the gate at the start and then kept on evenly to finish third, albeit a distant third. She improved her Beyer Speed Figure to 66, the best in Monday’s field. She will have jockey Reylu Gutierrez, a local native who has teamed with Ortiz for success around the country, in the irons Monday.
Mobelladream was seventh in the Maid of the Mist for trainer Anthony Ferraro. Prior to that, she was third in the Lady Finger at Finger Lakes with a 64 Beyer.
Honest Reason, Lifeisbutadream, and Lovely Pashyn are all maiden special weight winners locally at Finger Lakes, while Oscar Bound is coming off an 11-length maiden claiming win. Maiden Princess Azara completes the field.
Tin Cup Chalice
None of the entrants, all geldings, in the Tin Cup Chalice have yet made a dent beyond the maiden ranks, but this looks like a well-matched field. Five are coming off maiden special weight wins at Finger Lakes with similar figures. Savage State, who rolled by 8 1/2 lengths last out, earned a 57 Beyer. Sunday’s Currency is also coming off a 57, while Muscle Shoals, Instant Success, and God’s Angel ran figures of 56, 55, and 53, respectively, in their local maiden wins. Sunday’s Currency and Muscle Shoals both come into their stakes debut off bullet works.
Kings Dancer is still a maiden, but has been second to Muscle Shoals and Instant Success in his last two outings, and has a top Beyer of 52. Chioke is a five-start maiden who chased home Savage State two starts back, but is still looking for consistency.
Completing the field are Finger Lakes maiden special weight winner High Yield Hunk, who does not yet match the best in terms of figures, and Aqueduct maiden-claiming winner Essentially Fast.
The Shesastonecoldfox is named after the Finger Lakes-based filly who won her first four career starts, including the Lady Finger and the New York Breeders’ Futurity at Finger Lakes. She was the first locally based horse to start in a Breeders’ Cup race, but faded after setting the pace in the 2001 Juvenile Fillies.
Another local hero, Tin Cup Chalice, a stakes winner at 2, swept the Big Apple Triple in 2008, taking the Mike Lee at Belmont, New York Derby at Finger Lakes, and Albany at Saratoga. He went on to win the Grade 2 Indiana Derby and received an invitation to compete in the Japan Cup Dirt, where he was 13th.
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