Impressive winners in NY County Fair splits

The best fillies and colts in the County Fair divisions of the New York Sire Stakes program convened at Monticello Raceway on Thursday to compete in their respective $10,000 divisional finals and most raced like seasoned veterans. And a few were very impressive.

 

As often happens in stakes events some dominate which was the case in the trotting divisions.

 

Harold "Call Me Joe” Smith and Ashes Cash, a freshman of Kash Hall-Ashameg, annihilated their competition in the 2-year-old trot final when they scored a 20-length triumph in a time of 2:02.1. Far back in second place was Paradise Paintball (Michael Miller) who was a length better than Sandy Rose (Ron Abbott) who garnered the show dough.

 

For Ashes Cash, a homebred owned by his driver, it marked the colt's ninth triumph in10 starts which boosted his bankroll to over $20,000. He paid just $2.80 for win.

 

Equally impressive was the 2:00.1 mile trotted by Enough Kash in the 3-year-old trot final. The daughter of Cash Hall-Fashionablefilly, driven by her co-owner, Doug Ackley, romped to an eased-up five-length victory over the Howard Okusko-driven Belles Of Churton. Honey Muffin finished third for Truman Gale.

 

The only time this homebred filly was beaten--she finished second--was in an Excelsior Series trot at Batavia Downs on July 28. Her seasonal stats show 15 wins in 16 starts and purses in excess of $28,000.

 

Despite her impressive stats Enough Kash, owned by Doug and Tyra Joanne Ackley, returned a $7.40 mutuel.

 

The 2-year-old pacing final saw River Rising turn in yet another impressive victory when the daughter of Riverboat King-Ashlee Lynn made a laugher out of her contest when she romped to a 17-length victory in a time of 1:59.

 

Chris Lems was at the controls and used the front-end route to out-pace second-place finisher Ahead Of The Crowd driven by John Mc Kearin. Three lengths farther back in third place was Winlightn'strikes handled by Dave Fisher.

 

Owned by Andy Gardner, River Rising, a $2,000 purchase at Harrisburg last fall, paid $3.40 for win.

 

The only upset in the NYSSCF divisions came in the 3-year-old pace final when Lee Dahn hustled Officer Candidate to a rousing 1:57.3 victory over Neptune and Joe Chindano in a thrilling finish. At the wire the two pacers were heads apart but it was the 14-1 shot who prevailed.

 

Officer Candidate, a son of Riverboat King-One Sad Bister, was a $4,700 purchase at the Morrisville Sale last year. He's co-owned by his driver and Larry Dahn and paid $30.40 for win. With his victory the colt took a new lifetime mark and now has seasonal earnings of $17,478. (Monticello)