by Frank Drucker, publicity director, Yonkers Raceway

Yonkers, NY — The New York Sire Stakes program begins a month-long Yonkers Raceway invasion this week, leading up to the September 25 New York Night of Champions.

The $237,630 Jim Meagher Pace for 2-year-old colts and geldings is served up in five courses on Thursday night (August 19). Named to honor the memory of Yonkers’ long-time corporate controller, the event has three off-the-wagering-card divisions (post times 6, 6:15 and 6:30, respectively), along with races four and six on the betting program.

The first wagering division ($47,706) is led by Sir Ziggy’s Z Tam (Patrick Lachance, post six). The Art Major colt hits town off a pair of blowout NYSS wins (Monticello, Batavia), the latter in a snappy 1:55.2.

The second ($47,806) wagering Meagher menagerie includes Samandar (Cat Manzi, post six), whose early statebred resume includes a win (Buffalo) and a trio of second-place efforts.

We’d be remiss if we failed to mention a trio of Ken Jacobs-owned, Linda Toscano-trained, Jason Bartlett-driven “beasts” in the non-wagering events, starting with Thomas J (post two), moving to Major Way (post seven) and ending with Flipper J (post four). The trio is a combined 14-for-17 thus far, with each having earned more than $50,000.

“They’ve all been very handy, all getting better with each start,” Bartlett said.

Friday night (August 20) is the rechristened Dick McGuire Trot for 3-year-old colts and geldings. The event, worth a total of $283,848, has been drawn and quartered (races four, five, seven and nine), with each worth $70,962.

McGuire, a basketball Hall of Famer, member of the New York Knicks organization for more than a half-century — and devout horse player — died this past February at the age of 84.

Early favorites include Whata Winner (Jim Doherty, post four) in the first event, Celebrity Bluechip (Bartlett, post two) in the second division, Strong Hope (Jim Morrill, Jr., post eight) in the third group and defending sire stakes champ Blacktuxwhitesocks (Jeff Gregory, post eight) in the final event.

All four have earned in excess of six figures this season.

“He’s been good for two seasons,” Gregory said of Blacktuxwhitesocks. “He hasn’t thrown a bad race yet, but he’s going to have to be real good (Friday).”

The son of Credit Winner has won six of his 10 seasonal starts, including his last three.

Next week’s NYSS events include the Mike Cohen Pace (2-year-old fillies) Monday, the Scarsdale Trot (3-year-old fillies) Tuesday and the Tuckahoe Pace (2-year-old colts/geldings) Thursday.

The New York Night of Champions offers a total of $1.6 million for eight divisional finals ($200,000 per) and remains the richest night of racing in the state.

Yonkers’ current live schedule (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday) remains in effect, with first post at 7:10 p.m. Evening simulcasting accompanies all live programs, with afternoon simulcasting available around the NYRA schedule. Wednesday afternoon simulcasting ends at approximately 5:30 p.m.