Monticello, NY — Monday (Aug. 28) will mark the end of the 2023 New York Sire Stakes season at Monticello Raceway. The eight-race card is highlighted by one dash of Sire Stakes for 2-year-old male trotters worth $104,400 and three $20,000 heats of the Excelsior Stakes for combined purses of $164,400.

The lone division of NYSS has six contestants, with Keep Asking in post position five installed as the morning line favorite. Keep Asking was a Sire Stakes winner in his last start at Vernon Downs in 1:54, which equaled the track record. The son of Chapter Seven is trained by George Ducharme and has Jordan Stratton in the bike. In his five starts, Keep Asking has amassed $96,613.

Titan Your Grip (post three) has finished second a total of four times this season and along the way has banked $86,025. Titan Your Grip will be driven by regular pilot Mark MacDonald.

Chapland (post four) scored at Yonkers in 1:59.3 in NYSS competition earlier this year.

Each of the three Excelsior races has a standout as well. Tobern, the top point earner in the Excelsior class, will start from the rail in race three. Tobern had strung together an impressive five-race win streak that was halted in his last start when he finished second to Fringed at Vernon Downs. Tobern is trained and driven by John Stark Jr.

Inflation (post seven–Stratton) leads the way in the second race, first division. He has consecutive wins at Vernon and Saratoga, where Inflation took both of his divisions with relative ease. Lucas Wallin trains the son of Chapter Seven for owners Mal and Janet Burroughs, Shermay Stables and Wallin.

In the final heat, Voss Blue Chip (post three-Jason Bartlett) also has recent wins at Batavia and Saratoga with earnings of $36,165. The son of E L Titan is trained by Jared Bako. Sky Box will score from post four with MacDonald in the sulky. He is a two-time winner this year with recent wins at Saratoga and Tioga for trainer Paul Kelley.

The existing track record for this age and category is 1:58, held by Fourth Dimension and set in 2017.

Post time for the eight-race card is 12:10 p.m. Monday.