Summer Sting asked to flash more speed

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - The New Jersey Thoroughbred racing season concludes Saturday night with an 11-race card at the Meadowlands Racetrack.

The final program of 2007 features a six-furlong stakes, the $60,000 Montclair State University for fillies and mares. The $55,000 Accordant Handicap for New Jersey-breds did not fill.

The conclusion of the Meadowlands meet also marks the end of another campaign for the Sleeters, one of the most successful breeding and racing operations in the state. They will send out Summer Sting in the Montclair State.

Gerry Sleeter, listed as owner on most of the horses, and son Kevin, the trainer, have developed a successful strategy of running their horses, mostly home-grown New Jersey-breds, only during the Monmouth Park and Meadowlands seasons.

With the circuit finished, the horses get turned out and return next spring when Monmouth reopens.

"We'll wait until February to start training again," Gerry Sleeter said. "It's been a pretty good year and we like to give them a rest. And we get a little rest, too."

Summer Sting will likely return next year, although at age 5, retirement looms in the not too distant future.

"I think she'll be back," Sleeter said. "We have too many broodmare prospects now. We're not looking for another. We might get another year out of her."

Summer Sting has had a solid career, with $288,845 in earnings. She is 1 for 7 on the season, turning in one of her better efforts of the year last time out. Summer Sting finished in a dead heat for second with Solarana behind the very tough Pure Disco in the Big M's Seton Hall University Stakes.

Sleeter is looking for an aggressive effort in Summer Sting's final race of the year and has instructed jockey Eddie King Jr. accordingly.

"Eddie likes to lay back and make a run," Sleeter said. "I told him, 'You've got to put her into the race right away.' Hopefully that's what she'll do Saturday against Pure Disco, who is pretty tough."

That assumes Pure Disco runs in this spot. Both Pure Disco and Solarana were cross-entered in Friday night's Red Cross Stakes here.

Pure Disco, a winner of three straight, is blessed with the ability to win at six furlongs, the Montclair State distance, or at 1 1/16 miles in the Red Cross.

More Angels could be in a key spot for Bruce Levine. The Meadowlands training title figures to be a battle to the finish among Levine, Frankie Costa, and Jason Servis. Heading into the final three nights, Levine had 16 wins, one better than Costa and Servis.

More Angels has won two of three sprints since coming east from Hollywood Park.