Yonkers, NY – Three-year-old trotting fillies were in action on Friday night (June 27) at MGM Yonkers Raceway as Shes A Shoe In and Monalishi emerged with victories from a pair of Grade 3 $60,000 New York New York Mile sections.
Shes A Shoe In, driven by trainer Ray Schnittker, fired to the front in the first grouping but yielded to sit behind favored Royal Mission (Scott Zeron) after that one tipped from the pocket prior to the :28.3 quarter. Royal Mission, 2024’s sire stakes champion in New York, was well-rated from there to a :58.2 half and 1:27 three-quarters, but Shes A Shoe In, last year’s Pennsylvania freshman champion, had the best kick in the lane as she angled out, surged by Royal Mission and won by a length in 1:56.4. Devious Babe (Andy Miller) also vaulted past Royal Mission in the lane to get second.
Schnittker also trains and co-owns Shes A Shoe In, a Steve Jones-bred daughter of Greenshoe, with partner Ma3 Racing Stable. Shes A Shoe In now has four wins, three seconds and a third from 14 career starts, has banked $241,273 and paid $22.40 to win as a 10-1 shot. The exacta was worth $96 and the trifecta kicked back $213.
The complexion of the other division changed on the first turn when favored EL Nightwish (Dexter Dunn) went off-stride, which allowed second-choice Monalishi (Yannick Gingras) to drive on and clear Seventh Gen (Jeff Gregory) coming to the :28.4 quarter-mile point. It was all Monalishi from there, as Canada’s O’Brien Award winner for the division a year ago was unchallenged to the half in :58.2 and three-quarters in 1:27.2, then came home in :28 to defeat Seventh Gen by 2-1/2 lengths in 1:55.2. R Lady W (Zeron) couldn’t mount a bid from first-over and had to settle for third.
A filly by Green Manalishi S, Monalishi is co-owned by trainer Blake MacIntosh in partnership with Tim Klemencic. Bred by Shmuel Farhi, Monalishi has a summary of 9-3-0 from 15 outings, has put away $533,353 and returned $5 to win. She led a $48.80 exacta and a $136.50 trifecta.