For the second time in less a week, the New York Sire Stakes (NYSS) will return to Batavia Downs on Tuesday, Aug. 1 with one seven-horse field and this time, featuring two-year-old male pacers who will go behind the gate to vie for a purse of $106,300.
The group features an undefeated gelding named Darius (Huntsville-Miss Sowo), who is a perfect three-for-three in his very short career. Darius started out in Excelsior company and after easily winning there, advanced to the next level and won two consecutive NYSS events while dropping his lifetime mark in each outing to its current 1:54.4 status. Going into this race, Darius sits second in points and earnings in his division of the NYSS and heads into this race full of momentum. Mark MacDonald will steer the rookie from post one for trainer Ray Schnittker.
The Travis Alexander-trained entry of Avenger Force (Huntsville-Apple Delight) and Howlenthehills (American Ideal-Arielle Lynn) will also be a formidable duo in this contest.
Avenger Force finished second to Huntingforchrome in 1:53 at Saratoga Raceway last week after cutting the mile, which was the fastest of the two divisions. The week prior at Monticello, Avenger Force won his NYSS split despite being parked out the last half while also having broken equipment. With Matt Kakaley back up, Avenger Force is expected to be a player from post five.
Howlenthehills has yet to win in his career, but was a game third behind Darius and Boston Rocks in his last effort. Having drawn a favourable starting position from post two, Howlenthehills should be in the mix throughout the entire race for driver Marcus Miller.
Boston Rocks (Boston Red Rocks-Scirocco Sarah) is the overall leader among all his peers in this NYSS division this year for both points and earnings and was undefeated by a large margin going into last week’s race where he was finally bested by Darius. But that came after Boston Rocks made a break at the start of the race and had a lot of ground to make up as a result, and still flashed a very fast :27.2 final panel. He will be looking to make amends here for his miscue of last week despite having drawn post seven. Jason Bartlett will be back in the bike for trainer Mike Deters.
There are also three $20,000 NYSS Excelsior divisions on the card and all are full fields of eight that should provide some excellent betting opportunities.
The Excelsior splits are in races four, five and six and the NYSS main event is in race seven. Post time for the first race on Tuesday is 6 p.m.
(Batavia Downs; Photo of Darius winning a NYSS on July 12 at Buffalo Raceway)