by John Horne, for Vernon Downs
Vernon, NY — Vernon Downs will host three divisions of the New York Sire Stakes (NYSS) for 3-year-old trotting colts on Friday (May 11).
The first division ($40,600) features 2-year-old NYSS champion, Six Pack (Muscle Mass). He is owned by Little E LLC., Stall Kalmar and trainer/driver, Ake Svanstedt. This will be the colt’s first race as a sophomore after winning four times as a freshman, including the NYSS final at Yonkers Raceway (10-14-2017). He is the morning line favorite at 5-2.
The main competition in the first division will come from The Veteran (Muscle Mass). The 3-year-old is owned by W. Donovan, S. Michaels, J. Winske and trainer George Ducharme. Driven by Chris Lems, the colt will also be racing for the first time as a 3-year-old. The morning line second choice (7-2), won twice in 2017 and finished third in the NYSS final behind Six Pack.
The second division ($39,900) morning line favorite at 2-1, is Clive Bigsby (Muscle Mass), was the runner-up in the 2-year-old NYSS final. Owned by Winters Racing Stable and trainer George Ducharme, he will be making his 3-year-old debut after winning five times in 2017. Lems will drive the sophomore trotting colt.
Helpisontheway (Chapter Seven), was made the second morning line choice (3-1). The sophomore colt is owned by The Bay’s Stable LLC. with the Camelot Stables Inc. while trained by Linda Toscano and piloted by Tim Tetrick. He will make his first 3-year-old start of the season after going one-for-eight as a freshman. His best race was a third place finish in the Kindergarten Final in 2017 at the Meadowlands.
The third division ($40,600) morning line favorite at 5-2 is Seven Iron (Chapter Seven). The colt is the 2017 Kindergarten final runner-up. Owned by Ken Jacobs and trained by Toscano, the 3-year-old is driven byTetrick. He won two races a season ago.
Ronnie Goldstein (Muscle Mass) is the second morning line choice at 7-2. Two-for-two so far as a 3-year-old, the colt is owned by Steven Goldstein while trained and driven by Kim Crawford. He won two races as a freshman trotter.
Also on the nine race card is three divisions of The New York Excelsior A Series and three divisions of The New York Excelsior B Series. Post time at Vernon Downs is 6:10 p.m.
For more information go to www.vernondowns.com.