Hamburg, NY – Knoxville ($19.32) was able to find racing room down the passing lane and used it to perfection to stun the defending 2-year-old champion Fragment by a length in the $121,800 New York Sire Stakes for the 3-year-old colt and gelding pacers at Buffalo Raceway on a sparkling Wednesday afternoon (June 3). He covered the mile in 1:53.2 over the fast track in pinning the loss on Fragment.
It was a three-way battle for the lead as Hunthehunter De Vie (Mark Herschberger), Knoxville (Tyler Buter) and Unmatched Wisdom (Leon Bailey) all tried to take early supremacy. Unmatched Wisdom managed to take control as Knoxville found a spot in second and Hunthehunter De Vie third. Meanwhile, Fragment (Jason Bartlett) was content in fourth place.
Barnstormer Image Photo.
With fractions of :27.3, :55.3 and 1:24.2 posted, Ultimate Wisdom found company on the outside in Fragment and Knoxville stalking behind with a panel to go.
Turning for home, it was a two-pronged attack as Knoxville dropped into the passing lane while Fragment made his bid from the outside. But Knoxville proved to be too much as he drew away from Fragment by a length with Unmatched Wisdom holding on for third.
It was a nice bounce back for Knoxville who finished a third by a length to Unmatched Wisdom in the NYSS at Saratoga Raceway back on May 24.
Owned by trainer Ray Schnittker, Louis Palumbo, Theodore Gewertz and Milton Leeman, Knoxville (Huntsville-Let’s Fall In Love) has now won twice in four starts on the season. The victory jumped his earnings to $78,790 on the campaign and to $154,674 lifetime.
There was a trio of $20,000 Excelsior Series paces for the sophomore gentlemen on the program.
Casper The Ghost ($13.18) took the first division as he used a :27.2 last quarter mile for Buter to collect an 8-3/4 length victory over River Ranch Dawson (Brett MacDonald) in 1:54.1. Johnny Wiggles (Bartlett) was the original second place finisher but was disqualified and placed fourth for interference at the top of the stretch.
Buter continued on a roll in the next bracket as he got Magic Journey ($4.42) up in the final strides in nudging out the pace-setting Jericho Johnny (Bailey) by a head in 1:55.4.
It wasn’t a laughing matter in the final division as Killing Joke ($4.54) went gate-to-wire for Bailey in notching the comfortable three length score over American Pastime (Braxten Boyd) in 1:56.1.
In the $13,700 pace for the fillies and mares, Face The Shadows made a big brush down the backstretch and never looked back in registering a 3-1/2 length victory over Gentrify (MacDonald) in 1:56.0. Kevin Cummings guided Face The Shadows to her second consecutive win for trainer Samuel Smith.
Buter completed the afternoon with three stakes victories while MacDonald and Drew Monti had a pair of wins each. Smith had three training scores on the program with Schnittker posting a pair.
Racing will continue on Friday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. with 13 races scheduled. There is a $647 carryover in the Pick 5 which begins in the second race.
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