New York Sire Stakes Harness Racing

Top Trainer Ron Burke Targets the NYSS

Wednesday, 15 May 2013 13:32

By Bill Heller

                Ron Burke is well on his way to leading North American trainers in both victories and earnings for the sixth consecutive year, but only recently did the 43-year-old Burke begin targeting the New York Sire Stakes.

“It was about three years ago,” Burke said Tuesday. “They’ve done a great job with the program. We were missing an opportunity.”

                No more. Last year Burke saddled five horses in the eight $225,000 New York Sire Stakes Finals on the Night of Champions at Yonkers Raceway, including Summertime Lea, who capped an incredible eight-for-nine season with her victory in the Finals, making her the New York Sire Stakes Champion 2-Year-Old Filly Pacer.

Her lone loss was a second by three-quarters of a length in a New York Sire Stakes leg at Yonkers to Freetime, a filly she defeated in their three other meetings.

“Summertime Lea was a surprise,” Burke said. “We bought her as a trailer filly.”

                She did more than fill his trailer, earning just under $300,000 for owners Burke Racing Stable, Weaver Bruscemi, Frank Baldachino, Earl Smith and his two sons, J.R. (of the New York Knicks) and Chris. The daughter of Lislea out of Donna Summer by Life Sign, was bred by Tim Rooney.

                New York Sire Stakes 2012 Driver of the Year Jim Morrill drove Summertime Lea in six of her nine starts, including the Finals, and Burke was glad to have his services.

“He’s easily top five in the nation,” Burke said. “He gets so much out of the horses without hurting them.”

                Summertime Lea began her 3-year-old season May 8 at Harrah’s Philadelphia (Chester) by winning a $20,000 conditional pace against older fillies and mares by a nose in 1:52.1. Her next start will be at The Meadowlands Friday in a B-1/B-2 handicap.

“It’ll be a test for her,” Burke said. “It’s a big track. I don’t know if it’ll help her.”

                Burke, who was second in New York Sire Stakes earnings last year to New York Sire Stakes and North American Trainer of the Year Linda Toscano, didn’t go nuts staking Summertime Lea, but she is eligible for the Valley Forge at Harrah’s Philadelphia, the Lady Maud at Yonkers and the Matron at Dover Downs. She is not Burke’s only top 3-year-old filly pacer.

                Burke is high on Art Ideal, who won a $16,500 conditional race at Yonkers Monday night by nearly five lengths in 1:56.4 at odds of 1-10.

“I love her,” Burke said. “She was lightly-raced last year.”

                Art Ideal is owned by Burke Racing Stable, Bruscemi, Baldachino and Lawrence Karr. The daughter of American Ideal out of Michelle’s Art by Artsplaqce was bred by Jeffrey Snyder.

                Two races later at Yonkers Monday night, Burke was back in the winner circle with Purple Haze Stables, Conrad Zurich and Edwin Gold’s Silk Pajamas, who captured a $20,000 conditional race in 1:57.2. She won Sire Stakes legs at Tioga Downs and Yonkers last year, with three seconds and one third. The daughter of Bettor’s Delight out of Silksandiamonds by Falcon Seelster was bred by Flintlock Farm.

                Burke has other New York-bred hopefuls as well as dozens of other top horses that are apt to keep him on top nationally. He is harness racing’s version of Todd Pletcher, who dominates Thoroughbred racing. Both learned a lot from their fathers, in Burke’s case, from his father Mickey.

“My dad is 76 and he comes to the barn every day and jogs horses and trains horses,” Burke said. “Age is a number. I don’t even feel 43.”

                Also like Pletcher, Burke trains a huge stable.

“We have 200 to 220 now,” Burke said. “It was up to 260. We have about 90 horses in New Jersey, 87 in Pennsylvania, eight in New York at Tioga Downs and a few in Indiana.”

                He never envisioned training a stable this large.

“If somebody told you at the start that you’d be training all of them at one time, you wouldn’t do it,” he said. “It was 25, then 30, then 50. It kept growing.”

                He is quick to deflect credit for his accomplishments.

“I just get better and better horses,” Burke said. “It becomes easier and easier.”

                He said he began focusing on New York after video-lottery terminals were installed at Yonkers Raceway in October, 2006.

“The thing is, when slots were coming in, we thought it was a great opportunity,” he said. “For once, it was a plan that was executed perfectly. Yonkers took off.”

                So did the New York Sire Stakes.

“Before, we went around chasing the money, racing at the tracks with slots,” Burke said. “Now, you don’t have to leave New York to make good money.”

Golden Receiver Wins Again; Good at Six, Great at Seven, Even Better at Eight?

Monday, 13 May 2013 10:15

By Bill Heller

                Saturday night at The Meadowlands, Stable 45, Richard Taylor, Stephen Springer and Nina Simmonds’ eight-year-old New York-bred gelding Golden Receiver once again spit at the notion he’s supposed to be tailing off at the age of eight. In fact, he’s as good as he’s ever been.

                At the age of six, Golden Receiver won nine of 28 starts and $267,908. As a seven year old, he won 13 of 25 starts with earnings of $941,025.

His one length victory in a $50,000 division of the first leg of the TVG Free for All Series for older pacers Saturday improved his 2013 record to eight-for-nine with nearly $200,000 in the bank.

There are eight additional legs throughout the year in the TVG Free for All Series, which culminate with a $500,000 Final at The Meadowlands, Nov. 30th.

Actually, the fact that Golden Receiver went off the even-money favorite in Saturday’s star-studded field of seven speaks loudly. Collectively, the field had earned more than $7 million.

Leaving from the three post with regular pilot Tim Tetrick in the sulky, Golden Receiver did what he does best: zoom to the lead. He made the front by pacing an opening quarter in :26.3. He was under constant pressure through a half in :54.2 and three-quarters in 1:21.2. At the top of the stretch, when Razzle Dazzle made a menacing wide sweep into contention, Golden Receiver opened up by more than two lengths. He crossed the wire a length in front of Dancin Yankee in 1:49.1 for his 57th career victory in 130 starts with just under $1.8 million in earnings.

“He seems to know what’s required of him,” trainer Mark Harder said Sunday afternoon. “I think he’s as good as he was last year. I don’t know if he’s better.”

The son of Village Jove, out of Royal Gold by Towner’s Big Guy, was bred by Simmonds, who also bred Royal Gold.

Another New York-bred, Dynamic Youth, rallied to finish fourth to Golden Receiver at 53-1 in a strong four-year-old debut. Dynamic Youth won six of 18 starts last year, including the Cane Pace.

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Golden Receiver wasn’t the only New York-bred to win a stakes at The Meadowlands Saturday evening . Earlier on the card, Cowboyland Aalborg, TLP Stable, J&T Silva Stable and Deo Volente Farms’ Wishing Stone got up in the final stride to win a $40,000 elimination of the Arthur J. Cutler Memorial Trot for older trotters by a nose in 1:52.

Yannick Gingras drove the six-year-old son of Conway Hall out of Meadowbranch Magic by Valley Victory, who was bred by Brittany Farms and Daisy Acres. Wishing Stone, who won the 2010 Kentucky Futurity before racing in Europe in 2012, is now being trained by Ron Burke.

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It’s hard to imagine a New York-bred with a better 2013 record than Golden Receiver, but there is: trainer Carl Jamieson, Joanne Morrison and Thomas Kyron’s three-year-old New York-bred filly Belle Boyd. The daughter of Art Major out of Yankee Luck by Western Hanover, who was bred by Kentuckiana Farms, improved her record this year to seven-for-seven, capturing the $55,600 Final of the Princess Series at Woodbine by a half-length in 1:53.1. Randy Waples drove Belle Boyd, who had a second-over trip.

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Fashion Farm’s home-bred New York-bred Fashion Blizzard, last year’s New York Sire Stakes Champion Two-Year-Old Trotting Colt, worked hard to make the lead from the outside nine post, then led most of the way before tiring to finish second by half a length to odds-one favorite Muscle Mountain in a $27,265 division of the John Simpson Memorial at The Meadowlands in 1:54.4 Friday. New York-bred, Vaya Con Dios got a check by finishing fifth in his three-year-old debut at 96-1.

Friday evening at Vernon Downs, Coraggioso, the 2012 New York Sire Stakes Champion Three-Year-Old Trotter, led late but couldn’t hold off Spring Goal, finishing second by a length in the $10,000 Open Trot in 1:53.1, a track record for aged trotting horses. Coraggioso had set a track record for four-year-old trotting horses at Vernon a week earlier in his 2013 debut.

On Friday night at Yonkers, Handsoffmycookie had her two-race win streak snapped when she was shuffled back badly in mid-race, then rallied to finish fourth as the 6-5 favorite in the $46,000 Open Mares Handicap.

Top Trotter Tirade Hanover might turn tables this year

Friday, 10 May 2013 13:43

By Bill Heller

               Championships can be decided by inches. Fifty yards from the finish line in last year’s $225,000 New York Sire Stakes 2-Year-Old Colt and Gelding Trot Final at Yonkers, Fashion Blizzard looked home free. Then Tirade Hanover found room on the inside and charged into contention.

               Just nine days earlier, Tirade Hanover, who is owned by trainer Tyler Raymer’s wife, Leigh, Harold and Helene Solomon and Stephanie Moss, had beaten Fashion Blizzard by a head in a $57,760 Sire Stakes Division at Yonkers.

               In the Final, they crossed the wire simultaneously.

               In the paddock, Fashion Blizzard’s trainer Jim Campbell walked up to Tyler Raymer and said, “Congratulations.” Raymer responded, “You won.”

               Unfortunately for Raymer, his vision was better than Campbell’s. 

“At Yonkers, you always want to be the outside horse,” Raymer said. “Jim was being a sportsman coming up to me, and I told him to go to the winner’s circle.”

               Of course, if you’re going to split two desperately tight photos, you’d prefer winning the one with a $225,000 purse rather than the $57,560 one.

  Raymer fully appreciates that training a horse that finishes first or second in those two races is an accomplishment. Remember, we’re talking about 2-year-old trotters.

“We had a bunch of good horses in the Final,” Raymer said. “My optimism was high. You don’t have a horse like that and not be optimistic. They were battling nose and nose. It was a thrill to be in it.”

               Fashion Blizzard’s 2-year-old season wasn’t over. He went on to win an $81,750 division of the International Stallion Stakes. Royalty for Life, who made a break in the New York Sire Stakes Final, also won a division of the International Stallion Stakes, then finished second in the $600,000 Breeders Crown Final.

“He made a break in the Sire Stakes Final on the first turn,” Raymer said. “He probably would have beaten both of us. That shows how strong the program in New York is.”

               Both Fashion’s Blizzard and Royalty for Life, who won a qualifier at Vernon Downs in 1:54.1 Friday, are good enough to compete in this year’s top open stakes.

“I hope both Fashion Blizzard and Royalty for Life do incredibly well and don’t even look at the Sire Stakes,” Raymer laughed.

               That’s because Raymer is as totally committed to the New York Sire Stakes this year as he was last year.

               He plotted Tirade Hanover’s 2-year-old season to compete in all eight Sire Stakes legs and then, if he was good enough, the Final.

He was.

Read more: Top Trotter Tirade Hanover might turn tables this year

Breeders, Residency Awards Add to NYSS’ Rich Purses

Tuesday, 07 May 2013 09:46

By Bill Heller

               As if the abundance of $100,000-plus purses, the eight $225,000 Finals on the Night of Champions and the lucrative Excelsior and County Fair program aren’t incentive enough to breed and race in New York, consider the Breeders Awards and Residency Awards.

In 2012, the total purses for the Sire Stakes, Excelsior Series and County Fair circuit were more than $18.8 million. That didn’t include Breeders Awards and Residency Awards, which totaled another $1.2 million.

 

Last year, 349 breeders in New York State received Breeder Awards, topped by Winbak Farm, which checked in at $117,038. Hanover Shoe Farms ($74,418), Blue Chip Bloodstock ($58,137) and White Birch Farm ($42,644) were next. Birch Hollow Farm and Steve Stewart, Walnut Hall Ltd., Brittany Farms and Diamond Creek Farm each totaled more than $20,000.

 

Residency Awards are available to breeders whose mares reside at a breeding farm in New York for 180 continuous days, at which time the mare will be bred to a New York eligible stallion and produce a New York-bred foal.

 

Blue Chip Bloodstock ($11,444) and Winbak Farm ($7,815) topped 105 farms or entities that earned Residency Awards in New York from 2012.

 

The 2013 New York Sire Stakes season begins with an event for 3-year-old trotting fillies Friday night, May 17 at Tioga Downs. The following night at Vernon Downs, 3-year-old colt and gelding pacers get their first Sire Stakes test. The first event for 2-year-olds is Monday, June 24 at Yonkers for filly pacers.

 

The $1.8 million Night of Champions Sire Stakes Finals will be at Yonkers on Saturday, Sept. 28.

The Excelsior Series tips off the same night and place as the Sire Stakes, May 17 at Tioga, for 3-year-old trotting fillies. The Excelsior Finals for 2-year-olds will be Monday, Sept. 30 at Monticello. The 3-year-old finals will be at Saratoga on Wednesday, Oct. 2.

The NYSS County Fair program begins at Sandy Creek in Oswego County on July 3. Each of New York’s 22 fairs that race harness horses will receive $24,000 in purses, to be split evenly through an eight-race program that includes events for 2- and 3-year-old pacers and trotters, males as well as races restricted to females this year.

 

The County Fair Finals for all eight divisions will be Wednesday, Aug. 28 at Batavia Downs.