Saratoga Springs, NY – Wednesday (June 2) marked the start of the New York Sire Stakes season at Saratoga Casino Hotel. Three-year-old pacing fillies were featured on the 15-race matinee card.
The back-half of the program contained the stakes fillies highlighted by three divisions that each went for a purse of $50,400.
Test Of Faith (Art Major-Cannae Cammie-Cam’s Card Shark), last year’s Sire Stakes champion for 2-year-old fillies made her 2021 debut on Wednesday afternoon. Dave Miller was in town to pilot the Brett Pelling trainee who was one of the top fillies in North America last season.
Test Of Faith resumed her winning ways as Miller wasted little time putting the 1-9 favorite on the front-end and the superstar filly took it from there. Test Of Faith scored a decisive win to kick-off her sophomore campaign in the same fashion as her freshman season wrapped up. The victory for Test Of Faith that came in 1:52.1 was just a fifth of a second off the all-time track record for 3-year-old pacing fillies at Saratoga and she appeared to do it with ease.
Test Of Faith, who earned exactly a half million dollars last season winning eight times in nine starts, is poised for another sensational season and if Wednesday’s ’21 was any indication, she will be awfully tough to beat for her rivals in the New York Sire Stakes. Test Of Faith is owned by Melvin Segal, Eddie Gran and the Kentuckiana Racing Stable.
While Test Of Faith is the defending Sire Stakes champion among the returning fillies, Heart Of Mine (Roll With Joe-Acquavella- Western Ideal) was the runner-up in last year’s NYSS Final.
Scott Zeron piloted the Linda Toscano-trained filly on Wednesday afternoon and sat the pocket with Heart Of Mine who came on in the final stride to prevail in 1:54.3 in her $50,400 division. The super sophomore is now four-for-four in the win column in 2021 after recording the victory in her first Sire Stakes start of the year. Heart Of Mine is owned by Fred Wallace, The Bay’s Stable, Radio Racing Stable and Camelot Stable.
The Jessica Okusko-trained Purameri (American Ideal-J K Pure Pearl-Bettor’s Delight) sprung the upset for the day as the sophomore filly parlayed a pocket ride to victory with Hall of Famer Wally Hennessey at the controls. While dismissed at odds of 13-1, Purameri flew up the inside in the stretch before stopping the timer in 1:56.2. Purameri, who is owned by the Purple Haze Stables of Fairport, NY, gave Hennessey one of his five winners on the Wednesday card.
Live racing resumes on Monday afternoon (June 7) at Saratoga with a first post set for noon.