There were three divisions of the $59,000+ New York Sire Stakes for three year old filly pacers contested on Sunday afternoon at Saratoga Casino Hotel. The award winner as the top two year old pacing filly in the country made the first start of her sophomore campaign on Sunday in a $59,100 division of the NYSS. Youaremycandygirl (American Ideal-Sweet Lady Jane-Somebeachsomewhere) won all the big races she competed in in 2017 and following three qualifiers, made her seasonal debut on Sunday at Saratoga. Matt Kakaley piloted the Ron Burke trainee who wound up going off as the public’s 2-5 betting favorite. Her task was a difficult one as Youaremycandygirl squared off against last year’s NYSS champion Alexis Faith (American Ideal-Cannae Cammie-Cam’s Card Shark) who drew the rail for Sunday’s seasonal stakes debut. Youaremycandygirl appeared poised for an historic effort when she opened up a lead of a dozen lengths in a first half in an eye-popping 53.3! After checking in at three quarters in 1:22.2, her strides were noticeably shortening and the superstar filly faded sharply around the final turn. It was the Ed Hart-trained longshot Wisdom Tree (Betterthancheddar-Wisdom-Artsplace) who charged hard in the stretch and stopped the timer in 1:52.2 for the upset victory with Bruce Aldrich Jr in the sulky. Alexis Faith, who made a brief break early in the mile, recovered to finish second. Youaremycandygirl plummeted back late and wound up finishing last in her first try of 2018.
Ubettergo Go (Art Major-Ubetterthink Think-Bettor’s Delight) was an ultra-impressive winner on Sunday as Mark Macdonald piloted the Blake Macintosh trainee to a wire-to-wire score in a fast 1:52.3. Fellow Canadian invader Pueblo Blue Chip (American Ideal-Casino Miss-Cam’s Card Shark) scored in her $60,200 division on Sunday behind a front-running effort in 1:54.3 with Jim Morrill Jr. in the sulky.
Live racing continues on Monday afternoon as a matinee card is scheduled for the Memorial Day holiday. First time is set for 12:15pm.
Mike Sardella
Photo: Melissa Simser-Iovino
