Empire Breeders Classic set for Friday

Vernon, NY – Vernon Downs will host the 2023 Empire Breeders Classic (EBC) 3-year-old harness racing colt and filly trotting stakes on the afternoon of Friday, June 16 with a matinee post time of 12:15.

Both will be raced in divisions, the fillies as a pair of sevens (races two and eight) for a purse of $104,372 in each while the colts go in races four and six with over $95,000 at stake for each.

The races feature the stars of the New York regional program matching up against state-bred Grand Circuit winners from last season.

Scott Zeron had to make a choice between the top two fillies in the program, both were winners in last week’s NYSS at Tioga Downs and both drew into the seventh race. He chose Sadie Hanover (Chapter Seven), a winner in all four of her seasonal starts for Hall of Fame trainer Linda Toscano. Jason Bartlett will get the call on Instagram Model (Chapter Seven), who had greater success than her main rival at two, winning the Jim Doherty Memoial while earning over a quarter million dollars for trainer Annie Stoebe.

The fourth race pits last year’s Peter Haughton Memorial winner Kilmister (Chapter Seven, Sears) from the Marcus Melander stable against Ake Svanstedt’s Cecil Hanover (Chapter Seven), who is the hottest trotting horse in the Empire State with wins in both NYSS events this year.

The glamour boys, NYSS 3-year-old pacing colts, are the supporting feature on an all-stakes extravaganza.

Post time is 12:15pm.

For complete race entries, click here.

by Nick Salvi, for Vernon Downs