Vernon: Two-year-old pacers rumble in New York Sire Stakes
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Vernon Downs had 2-year-old pacers of both sexes in town for New York Sire Stakes races on Saturday night, and Huntingforchrome bagged the big prize by capturing the single $110,100 split for colts and geldings. The divisions for fillies went to Bronx Barista and So Well Dressed.
Huntingforchrome (Joe Bongiorno), coming off a sire stakes victory at Saratoga and then a triumph over open company in the Kindergarten Series at the Meadowlands, left quickly from post eight and pressed past Darius (Mark MacDonald) to the engine after the 27 second opening quarter. Bongiorno then hit the brakes in the second quarter to get to the half in just 58 seconds.
The tempo would increase around the last turn and to the 1:26 2/5 three-quarters as Supplemental Fee (Brian Sears) took a shot at the pace-setter from first-up, but Huntingforchrome dispatched that try rather easily and then used a 26 1/5 final quarter to kick away and win by 2 3/4 lengths in 1:52 3/5. Supplemental Fee held second over Boston Rocks (Jason Bartlett).
Bred by Crawford Farms, trained by Jenn Bongiorno, owned by Bob Di Nozzi and purchased for $77,000 at last year's Lexington Selected Yearling Sale, Huntingforchrome is three-for-four in the win column to go with a third in back in his debut. The gelding by Huntsville has put away $104,700 and returned $3.20 to win as the 3-5 favorite.
In the first $52,500 grouping for the fillies, Camerican (Bongiorno) reached the quarter in 28 3/5, but Blue Point (Bartlett) brushed from third to first heading to the 57 4/5 half. Blue Point remained on the front-end at the 1:26 4/5 three-quarters, but Bronx Barista (MacDonald) was advancing after going first-over from fourth at that marker, and she would forge her way into the top spot in the lane. Once she had command, Bronx Barista dug in and held off a bid by an angling-out Camerican to the wire, prevailing by half a length in 1:53 2/5. Blue Point held third.
A Huntsville filly, Bronx Barista is trained by Ray Schnittker, and he also co-owns her with breeder Ted Gewertz and their partner Kitefield Stable. Bronx Barista improved her record to 3-0-1 from six starts, has now earned $56,481 and paid $7.70 to win as the 5-2 third choice.
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So Well Dressed (Brian Sears) got away with soft fractions of 28 3/5, 1:00 2/5 and 1:29 3/5 in the other $53,500 test for the girls, and she would sprint home in 26 1/5 to fend off first-over Delightville (Matt Kakaley) and Peace Talks (Bartlett) to the wire in a 1:55 4/5 mile.
Chuck Connor Jr. trains the victorious daughter of So Surreal for co-owner/breeder Janice Connor and co-owner Robert Lovett. So Well Dressed has four victories and a third-place finish from six outings, sent her bankroll to $89,731 and returned $7.60 to win as the 5-2 second choice.