East Rutherford, NJ
– The New Jersey Sires Stakes (NJSS) Finals for three-year-old trotters and
pacers will each be raced for a purse of $100,000 on Saturday night, June 4 at
The Meadowlands. Deo Volente Farms is the title sponsor for all four divisions
of the stake.
Among the
contenders are the two-year-old trotting and pacing national divisional leaders
from last season, Southwind Frank and Boston Red Rocks respectively.
The evening’s
stakes begin in race two, where Boston Red Rocks gets underway from post two
for Tim Tetrick in a six horse field. The strapping Rocknroll Hanover colt took
the first leg in 1:50.3, then met with road trouble last week when Tetrick was
forced to take up sharply to avoid the breaking Ideal Rocky resulting in a
third place finish. With a hundred grand on the line the surest course to
victory is likely a forwardly placed one for Boston Red Rocks and his team of
trainer Steve Elliott along with owners Peter Blood and Rick Berks.
Southwind Frank
starts from the open outside post eight in the eighth race for Yannick Gingras
and finds a pretty good group of horses to his left. This Muscle Hill scion won
all the majors last year and is the fastest freshman trotting colt in the long
history of harness racing by virtue of his 1:52.2 win in Lexington last fall.
He dominated this group with a 1:52.1 romp in the first leg then stayed home
while Maven’s Way edged Jack Vernon in an eye-popping 1:51.4 last week. Add
prospects like Bar Hopping and Brooklyn Hill to the mix and you’ve got yourself
a horse race. Ron Burke trains the favorite, who now races for the eponymous
Southwind Frank Partners.
Gingras will also
be in the sulky of the consesus choice in the filly trot, directing the
fortunes of All The Time (PP #2) for owners Marvin Katz and Al Libfeld. Trainer
Jimmy Takter also chose to defer last week after her effortless 1:53.2 win in
the first leg. A full field of ten will face the starter in this, the sixth
race of the card.
The pacing fillies
go forward in the fourth race and Emilio and Maria Rosati’s Blue Moon Stride
(PP #6) has the favorite’s role off a pair of dominant wins against these young
ladies the past two weeks. A new shooter appeared last week in Rocknroll Vision
who was a good second to the fave and has drawn the outside post seven for the
final. Mark Harder trains and Andrew McCarthy is scheduled to drive Blue Moon
Stride in her quest to defend her title.
Promotions-wise
the action is moving outdoors with the “30 & Under Handicapping Contest” offering $5,000
in prizes to the neophyte crowd on Friday evening. Interested parties may sign
up until 7:00 p.m. on the rooftop Victory Terrace. Saturday marks the return of
the Jersey Fest Food Truck Mash-Up brings hungry fans
from all over the Garden State.
For the
experienced horseplayer the standard wagers and guarantees are in place and the
last race Hi-5 Super Jackpot carryover stands at $237,882 to start the racing
weekend.
