Monticello Hosts Five NYSS Splits
Guy Howard is a happy man. And why shouldn’t he be, after all
his sophomore trotting colt Aruba Vacation scored his third
consecutive win.
Fern Paquet, Jr. guided the Dream Vacation gelding to a solid
1:58:4 victory in his division of the $190,000 NY Sire Stakes
for three-year-old trotting colts and geldings at Monticello
Raceway on Thursday afternoon.

Aruba Vacation - His fifth win in seven seasonal starts
Howard was on hand to join in the photograph after
Aruba Vacation’s victory which was his fifth in seven
seasonal starts as the colt raised his seasonal earnings to over
$87,000.
“I’ve had some nice horses over the years,” the Binghamton,
NY resident said,” but this guy (Aruba Vacation) is probably my
best one ever. He is a homebred, out of my Giant Hit mare Dixie
Hit, who won over $81,000 for us in 2002.”
Paquet used the front end route to victory turning back
Stimulus and driver Daniel Dube who was making his first start
since his terrible accident at the Meadowlands on June 18.
Needless to say that Paquet is impressed with Aruba Vacation,
too.
“He (Aruba Vacation) is a real nice colt; he’s handy and a
pleasure to drive,” Paquet said after the victory. “So far he’s
beaten the best and we look forward to a big year from him.”

Celebrity Bluechip
In another division
Celebrity Bluechip and driver Jason Bartlett posted a 1:58:4
victory when they turned back Tempest De Vie and driver Frode
Fladen.
Bartlett put the son of Credit Winner on the lead and played
catch me if you can. And nobody could as Celebrity Bluechip
trotted off to a seven-length victory which was the colts fourth
of the year.
The winner paid $4.00 and raised his seasonal bankroll to
over $78,000 for owners Celebrity Farms, Dr. Herb Burns, and
Steve Demeter.

Blacktuxwhitesocks
In yet another $38,202 division
Blacktuxwhitesocks, who won the NYSS $175,000 freshman colt
trotting final last year at Vernon Downs, toured the Mighty M
double oval in 1 :59:1 for driver Jeff Gregory. Danny Cappello,
Jr. shadowed the winner with Jocular until the top of the
stretch at which point Blacktuxwhitesocks, a son of Credit
Winner, trotted away to a four length victory.
Owned by the Purple Haze Stable of Fairport, NY
Blacktuxwhitesocks went off as the prohibitive favorite and paid
a paltry $3.30 for win.

Margarita Man - A seemingly incredible 16-length triumph
Ray Schnittker got in the scoring column when he guided
Margarita Man to a seemingly incredible 16-length triumph
for the Malabar Man colt’s first seasonal victory in a 1:59:3
clocking.
The winning margin resulted from the fact that five of the
other starters went off-stride somewhere during the mile. Off
The Grid with Jimmy Morrill, Jr. driving, stayed flat the entire
way and finished second.
“This is the best he’s been so far this year and maybe he’ll
get better as we go on but we drew and easy field today and we
bottomed them out,” Schnittker said after his victory.
Margarita Man, last year the two year old trotter of the year
at Monticello Raceway, was sent off at odds of over 6-1 and paid
$14.80 for win. He is owned by the Margarita Man Stable of
Middletown, NY.

Kona
A final NYSS split saw driver Brandon Simpson shock the
betting public when he guided 28-1 shot
Kona to a head victory over Ray Schnittker’s, Big Stick
Lindy in a 2:00:2 clocking with Strong Hope and Michael
Vanderkemp just another head back in third place.
Kona, a Dream Vacation gelding, owned by Bradley Kramer, ECS
Racing and Arthur Strozewski, won for the second time in nine
seasonal outings. Those with faith in Kona were rewarded with a
$59.50 win payoff. |