by Phil Nero, HHBNYS Communications

Albany, NY — A formidable gathering of the state’s best 3-year-old trotting fillies open their New York Sire Stakes season with five divisions on Sunday (June 7) at Buffalo Raceway — all but one featuring previous stakes winners.

Overall, 35 trotters will be divided into seven-horse fields, each offering $31,011 in purse money. As luck would have it, last year’s 2-year-old NYSS divisional champion She’s So Savvy (post six), drew the only race (fourth division) without at least two Sire Stakes winners. Trained by Jessica Okusko and driven by Howard Okusko, Jr., this Malabar Man filly won four times on the Sire Stakes circuit last year, chalking up almost $167,000 in purse money along the way and a lifetime mark of 1:58.4 at Tioga Downs.

Looking for the upset is another daughter of Malabar Man, Pembroke Firestorm (post seven), who hit the board but missed the winner’s circle in her stakes efforts last year. Candi’s Velvet (post one), also by Malabar Man, presents a mystery factor. She didn’t race as a 2-year-old, but picks up highly regarded driver Wally Hennessey after trotting to a 1:59.3 victory in her first lifetime start May 23 at Pocono Downs.

The rest of the competition gets tough with the very first division, the second race on a 15-race matinee card. Contag Way (post seven), Naughty Nana (post six), and Social Butterfly (post four), all stakes winners last year, go at it in what looks to be a well-matched contest. While this will be Naughty Nana’s first official start of 2009, Contag Way and Social Butterfly both took new lifetime marks in April at Saratoga Raceway. Social Butterfly, a daughter of Credit Winner, went gate-to-wire in 2:00 on April 2 for driver/trainer Ray Schnittker. Three weeks later, it was Contag Way’s turn. The Conway Hall offspring made a bold three-wide move on the backstretch to win by a neck in 1:59.4.

The second division looks to be another wide open affair with Allie Jae (post one), New Hampshire Girl (post two), and Big Sky Angelina attempting to find the Sire Stakes winner’s circle again after victories in 2008. Smartina Pants (post three) was successful last year at the Late Closers level and has already notched a win, a place, and two show finishes in four outings this year. Also in the field is Winbak Roberta, a daughter of Plesac who was unraced as a 2-year-old, but won her first official start at Freehold Raceway on May 28 comfortably in 2:01.3.

Three stakes-winning fillies, two of them multiple winners, do battle in the third division, including Beachcomber (post two), who scored a Sire Stakes hat trick her freshman year. Beachcomber, a daughter of Conway Hall, won three of her first four Sire Stakes races in 2008, taking a 2:00.2 lifetime mark at Tioga Downs in the process. Trained and driven by Jan Johnson, Beachcomber is looking to rediscover her winning ways. La Marchesa (post seven) and Snowblind Lindy (post six), two other daughters of Conway Hall, stand in her way. Trained by Carl Gillespie and driven by Stephane Bouchard, La Marchesa won back-to-back stakes starts last August, both on half-mile tracks, and may find the four turns at Buffalo to her liking. Three others in here, Alabama Hotel, Harmony Gal, and Danijill, also have Sire Stakes experience.

Sister Marcy (post one) and Porque (post four), both two-time stakes winners, and the always-game Up In Class (post three), help wrap things up in the final division. Trained by Linda Toscano and driven by Jeff Gregory, Porque will be looking to find the winner’s circle for the first time this year after two seconds in two starts. One of those was an impressive outing against last year’s 2-year-old Dan Patch Award winner Honorable Daughter in the $212,875 Empire Breeders Classic at Vernon Downs May 16.

From a breeding perspective, 29 of the 35 entrants are represented by three prominent sires. Conway Hall, who stands stud at the Morrisville College Equine Center, is represented by 15 starters; Credit Winner (Blue Chip Farms, Wallkill, N.Y.) is next with eight; followed by Malabar Man (Winbak Farms, Walden N.Y.) with six. Besides more than $155,000 in purse money, these fillies are vying for valuable Sire Stakes points, leading up to the 2009 Night of Champions at Vernon Downs on Sept. 26.