Boston Rocks heads NYSS at Buffalo Raceway

HAMBURG, N.Y. — The New York Sires Stakes continues its march through Buffalo Raceway on Wednesday afternoon (July 12) and the 2-year-old harness racing colt and gelding pacers are in the spotlight this week with two divisions to battle for $52,500 each.

As per usual, experience is at a premium for the 12 gentlemen. A trio of pacers have already broken their maiden while three others are just making their career debuts.

The second division appears to be the toughest and is set for the fifth race.

It features Boston Rocks (Boston Red Rocks-Scirocco Sarah) who captured his $53,500 bracket at Monticello Raceway in 1:58.1 over the good track.

Trained by Michael Deters, Boston Rocks drew the five post and will have Jason Bartlett slated to drive. Starting from the inside back on June 26, Boston Rocks fired right to lead and never looked back in beating Taranaki by 4-3/4 length.

Taranaki (Huntsville-Free Fi Girl) will get another crack at Boston Rocks. The colt starts from the four hole with Scott Zeron aboard.

Others in the field include Vandiemen Blue Chip (Brett Beckwith), Vampire Blue Chip (Jim Morrill Jr.) and first-time starters Believe In America (Mark MacDonald) and Gibby (Bart Dalious).

The first division could be a wide-open affair. Darius (Mark MacDonald) won a $20,000 Excelsior Series race at Monticello Raceway in 1:58.4 on June 26. He was 5-1/4 lengths behind at the half in his victory but closed sharply to win by two lengths. The long stretch at Buffalo Raceway could be very much to his liking.

Scootermagrooter (Joseph Chindano Jr.), Levi Sonic (Bartlett) and Ideal Par (Zeron) were also involved in the Sires Stakes at Monticello and hope to improve on their previous efforts.

The remainder of the field includes Dealers Turn (Kevin Cummings) and Hoop Star (Morrill Jr.).

The track record for 2-year-old pacing colts is 1:54.2 set in 2018 by Melodies Major while the gelding standard is 1:55.1 established last season by American Fling.

There are also a trio of $20,000 Excelsior Series races sprinkled throughout the program. First race post is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.

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by Brian J. Mazurek, for Buffalo Raceway