Tioga: Justice, Cool Papa Bell triumph in NYSS action

Tioga Downs played host to its first New York Sires Stakes (NYSS) event of the season on Sunday afternoon when the 3-year-old colt and gelding trotters wheeled into the Southern Tier for the second leg of the series.

The sire stakes were split into a pair of divisions, with eight going in the fifth race for a purse of $60,300. The post time odds identified Justice (Wally Hennessey) at 6-5 and World At War Deo (Jody Jamieson) at 8-5 as the main players, and the money was right.

Both colts were sent out from the gate for position, and the advantage went to Justice, who was posted slightly inside his rival, resulting in a pocket ride. Things got settled well before the 27 3/5 quarter mark and remained so through the 57 second half. Leader World At War Deo faced mild pressure from the first-up By The Book through a 28 3/5 third panel, then Jamieson said "Go" on the final bend in an attempt to convert his length advantage into victory. It was not to be, though, as the wily Hennessey had Justice in gear, and he edged past the leader in the shadow of the wire. Tanglewood Road closed to be third.

Post-race, Hennessey remarked, "He's a push-button colt. He went out of there nice and was comfortable the whole way. We got a good trip following the horse to beat, and Justice got by with something left."

Also on hand was Jeff Gural, owner of Tioga Downs and a partner on Justice via his Little E LLC. stable.

"He started off gangbusters last year and was 3-5 in the NYSS final but came up sick and finished fifth," said Gural. "I thought he'd win his last start (in the Dexter Cup) at Freehold where he came second, so this was kind of a make-or-break race for him. I'm happy Wally took him, and he drove him perfectly."

The time of 1:53 2/5 (27 4/5 last quarter) was a career-best clocking for the winner, who is trained in the Ake Svanstedt stable for his own interest along with partners Little E LLC., Torbjorn Swahn, Inc., and MyFab, Inc. The Chapter Seven colt is a Diamond Creek bred and was sold as a yearling in Lexington for $62,000.

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Division two came in race nine and Cool Papa Bell (Brian Sears) was as smooth on the racetrack as his Baseball Hall of Fame namesake was on the base paths. Legend has it that "Cool Papa" could flip the light switch to off and be in bed before the room went dark. That's kinda how it went for the other eight colts today, as Sears moved Cool Papa Bell to the front well before the 56 second half, waved off the backstretch brush of second choice Slay (Marcus Miller), and scored standing up in a new record of 1:52 4/5.

Another son of New York's top trotting sire Chapter Seven, Cool Papa Bell was a $100,000 Lexington yearling purchase by Scott Farber as Runthetable Stables from breeder Belmar Racing & Breeding. He is trained by Jim Campbell, who is currently housing a fleet team of sophomore trotters at his home base in New Jersey.

Sears said in his typically understated fashion, "He was really good in his first start, so I waited until Jody (Jamieson driving the early leader Chapheart from post nine) cleared, then moved him to the front. He gets through the turns so well. I asked him past the three-quarters and he took off."

The trotting colts and geldings will next visit Vernon Downs for the third leg of the NYSS on June 10, then will be right back there the following week for the $250,000 Empire Breeders Classic.

--press release (Tioga)--