Rooney, Rose Of Tralee draw

Monticello Raceway will be the site Friday afternoon of the $490,904 Art Rooney for 3-year-old colt pacers and $290,210 Rose Of Tralee for 3-year-old filly pacers, with five horses lining up behind the starting gate in each. The races were moved after the opening of Yonkers Raceway was postponed.

Local trainer Ed Hart will send out the favorite in the Rooney in the presence of Gimmebackmybullets, while Jeff Stafford’s Darlin’s Delight should be an odds-on choice in the companion filly contest.

Gimmebackmybullets, a winner of seven races this season, has a season-best time of 1:53 set at Saratoga Raceway. The son of Bettor’s Delight should be right at home on the Montice1lo oval after having won several races here this season.

Regular teamster and Monticello Raceway’s leading driver, Stephane Bouchard, will be at the controls and the colt will start from the coveted rail position. Gimmebackmybullets, recently named 3-Year-Old Pacing Colt of the Year at Monticello Raceway by the local scribes, received the oddsmaker’s nod as the 9-5 morning line favorite

Second choice in the contest is the Mark Capone-trained White Hot Cards, who will come into the race off two consecutive 1:54:4 victories at Freehold Raceway. Earlier this year the Cam’s Card Shark colt was victorious in 1:51 at the Meadowlands.

Gimmebackmybullets is owned by the Legacy Racing Stables of Mount Kisko, N.Y., while C & I Seigel Racing Stable Ltd and Lee Wasserman of Staten Island, N.Y. own White Hot Cards.

Darlin’s Delight, a New York-bred daughter of Bettor’s Delight and winner of more than $650,000 this season alone, will be the one to beat in the Rose Of Tralee, which will go as race number five on Friday.

As usual, trainer Stafford has his filly in top form and she’ll come into the race off a second-place finish to My Little Dragon in the $500,000 Breeders Crown at Woodbine Racetrack on Oct. 28. Named 3-Year-Old Filly Pacer of the Year in the rich New York Sire Stakes program, Darlin’s Delight is a winner of eight of 13 races this year, including a 1:52 triumph in the $150,000 New York Sire Stakes final at Saratoga on Sept. 16. Her best effort was a 1:50:1 clocking in the $138,000 James Lynch final at Pocono Downs on June 17.

Darlin’s Delight is also no stranger to Monticello Raceway, having been victorious in a NYSS event here on July 16. Her regular driver, Yannick Gingris, will be in the sulky when Darlin’s Delight starts from post position two in the five-horse field. Rated 9-5 on the morning line it’s more likely she’ll be a 1-5 favorite before the race is contested.

Darlin’s Delight, a lifetime winner of $1,250,423, is owned by Joe Parisi’s White Birch Farm of Allentown, N.J.

Post time for the first race on Friday is at 12:40 p.m. (From Monticello Raceway)

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