by Carol Hodes, for the New Jersey Sire Stakes

Freehold, NJ — Cheyenne Trish will put her three-race winning streak on the line in the $85,000 New Jersey Sire Stakes Final for 3-year-old pacing fillies on Saturday, October 11, at Freehold Raceway.

The daughter of Artiscape-Falconstor has been installed as the 3-1 morning line favorite and will leave from post six with Jim Meittinis in the sulky.

Even while winning, Cheyenne Trish has been keeping it interesting — her last three victories were by margins of a head, nose and neck.

This year The Cheyenne Gang’s homebred has eight wins, four seconds and three thirds from 19 starts for earnings of $272,029 toward a career bankroll of $350,690. She has finished in-the-money in 22 of 33 career outings.

It has not surprised trainer Robbie Siegelman that she has enjoyed so much success. Her racing style, however, has not always been used to best effect.

“The only obstacles Trish had to deal with is she loves to come from off the pace and some very good drivers drove her according to her (short) odds and not the way she likes to race,” said Siegelman. “As (we) well know, a filly is at her best when she is happy, and Trish is happiest when you don’t ask for her (to race hard) in the first half.

“I think she is so good right now because we made sure she got a little break in her schedule before the fall stakes,” he continued. “She could easily have had a lot more money on her card if she wasn’t over driven in a few finals. She stood out early because when we would train her, she loved to follow and then when I would tip her, you had to be careful to have room because she would explode out of a hole so quickly.

“At Showplace (Farms in Englishtown, N.J.), we just try to keep her as happy as possible,” he added.

After the New Jersey Sire Stakes Final, Cheyenne Trish has the Lady Maud at Yonkers and the Matron at Dover.

“I would love to race her as an aged mare,” Siegelman noted. “I think with her style of racing, she could develop into a top aged mare. The toughest part is the 4-year-old year. The boys can go in a 4-year-old open, but you rarely see a 4-year-old open for mares.

“Right now, I just want to enjoy my little 3-year-old girl,” he added. “We never know what is ahead, and she is worth savoring.”

Happy Dreamer, who is also in the NJSS Final, co-holds the stakes record of 1:53.1. The daughter of McArdle clocked the time on September 12, 2008 to match the efforts of JK Songndance (Life Sign) in 2005, Lightning D Dube (Western Ideal) and Artcotic (Artiscape), both in 2007.

Here’s the complete field.

Post-Horse-Sire-Driver-Trainer-ML
1-Cartniverous-Artiscape-Brian Sears-Josh Green-5-1
2-Chocolate Art-Artiscape-Jason Bartlett-Noel Daley-9-2
3-Stylish Art-Artsplace-David Miller-Monte Gelrod-7-2
4-Best Place-Artsplace-Steve Smith-Buzzy Sholty-12-1
5-Western Seduction-Western Ideal-Ron Pierce-Steve Elliott-8-1
6-Cheyenne Trish-Artiscape-Jim Meittinis-Robert Siegelman-3-1
7-Happy Dreamer-McArdle-Andy Miller-Julie Miller-6-1
8-Alice’s Restaurant-Western Ideal-Jim Pantaleano-Michael Hall-10-1