Huntsville Fillies Sweep NYSS in Buffalo

HAMBURG, New York — Send it thin (Huntsville-Rockinsangria) ran the fastest harness racing mile in the two $51,000 (approximately) New York Sire Stakes races for 2-year-old fillies at Buffalo Speedway on Wednesday afternoon (June 19) while Cowgirl Hanover (Huntsville-Code One) went door to door winning the second division.

It was a great day for driver Mark MacDonald as he recorded four wins while trainer Ray Schnittker took three wins, one in the Sire Stakes and two in the Excelsior Series.

In the first race featuring four girls, Chanceoflightning (Jordan Stratton) set the splits with a :30.3 and 1:00.4. Send It Down Slim (MacDonald) was sitting patiently in the yard and jumped first going down the backstretch, quickly taking the lead.

Send It Down Slim ($9.20) and Chanceoflightning pulled away from the other two competitors and were ready for the final duel. But Send It Down Slim used a 27.3 final quarter mile to hold off Chanceoflightning by a length of 1:58.3 on the fast track. Calamity Hour (Jim Morrill Jr.) took over the show.

MacDonald said a bit of scouting before the race helped him in his winning move down the stretch. “I got there early and watched Chanceoflightning warm up and thought she was a little green so I took the step when I did.”

Owned by Grozcona Racing and trained by Schnittker, Send It Down Slim (Huntsville-Rockinsangria) earned a “big” check for $25,250 in his first career start.

In the second bracket, Cowgirl Hanover led at every stage and beat Americanbeachdream in 1:58.4.

From the start, Cowgirl Hanover ($2.80) managed to secure the inside rail position and used solid fractions of :29.4, :59.4 and 1:30.1. Americanbeachdream (Brett Beckwith) and Martini Star (Morrill Jr.) each looked for answers down the stretch but found none and had to settle for second and third place, respectively.

“I had to be careful around the first turn, but once I made it, I knew we were good to go,” McNair said of the trip aboard the Cowgirl Hanover. He added: “I could have opened it up more, but I didn’t need to.”

Owned by NY Seb Inc. and conditioned by Jared Bako, Cowgirl Hanover bankrolled $25,750 with her first win.

The MacDonald-Schnittker tandem won two $20,000 Excelsior Series divisions. On Cloud Wine ($6.40) beat Bulvilhighonmaggie by 1-1/4 lengths in 1:59.3 while Bronx Mixer ($4.20) pinned a 3-1/4 defeat of Bulvillkidunotedna in 1: 59.0.

Besta Brynn ($15.80) came from third for driver Kevin Cummings and stunned heavily favored Hanky ​​Panky by a length in 2:00.1.

In the $14,000 A-Open class for fillies and mares, Oaxacan Dream N (Big Jim-Verde Lima) took the lead from the seventh post and rolled from there, holding off Summer Slash in 1:54.4. Imprincessgemma A (Morrill Jr.) finished third.

Owned by Vogel & Wags Nags LLC and trained by Maria Rice, it was the fifth win in 15 starts for the 8-year-old Oaxacan Dream N. The win brought his 2024 earnings to $45,275 and $170,629 for life. She paid $6.50 to win.

Racing will resume Friday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. with 12 races to go.

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by Brian J. Mazurekfor the Buffalo circuit