Tioga: Savage Cindy, Surreal Spirit victorious in New York Sire Stakes
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Sophomore pacing fillies battled in two New York Sire Stakes divisions on Sunday afternoon's program at Tioga Downs.
In the first $59,100 flight, Ideal Queen Beauty (Braxten Boyd) led early, but Savage Cindy (Leon Bailey) came to the outside before the 26 second opening quarter and took command past that marker. From there, Savage Cindy kept the tempo quick, hitting the half in 53 3/5 and the three-quarters in 1:21 and her 28 4/5 final kicker got her to the wire 2 1/2 lengths ahead of Ideal Beauty Queen in a 1:49 4/5 mile. Hunting Memories (Colin Kelly) collected third.
Cory Stratton trains Savage Cindy, a daughter of Huntsville bred by owner Scarlett Stables LLC. She has a summary of 6-5-2 from 16 starts, has earned $307,052 and paid $3.10 to win.
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Odds On Monetary (Matt Kakaley) was on top at the 27 second quarter, 56 4/5 half and 1:25 1/5 three-quarters in the other $58,000 split, but trainer/driver Jeff Gregory wheeled Surreal Spirit off the pylons from the pocket on the final bend and went by Odds On Monetary in the lane en route to a 1 1/2 length triumph in 1:52 2/5. Odds On Monetary had to settle for second and Liberty Style (Jason Bartlett) checked in third.
The victorious So Surreal filly is owned by Edmund Namiotka Jr., Carol Namiotka and Linda Mund and was bred by Eric Taddeo. She has six wins, four seconds and three thirds from 17 appearances, has banked $222,352 and returned $12.58 to win.
Two $20,000 New York Excelsior Series contests were also held and were won by:
--Lenna (by American Ideal and bred by Levi Bontrager, paid $3.86 to win) in 1:50 3/5 for driver Jason Bartlett, trainer Deborah Daguet and owner Forrest Bartlett;
--Carry Back (by Huntsville and bred by co-owners The Bay's Stable LLC. and Polger Holdings LLC. with South Mountain Stables and Mark Mullen, paid $3.34 to win) in 1:53 for driver Jason Bartlett, trainer Linda Toscano and co-owners Fred Wallace and Richard Jack.