Instagram Model ready for Empire Breeders Classic

Instagram Model (Chapter Seven-Check Out Trixie) was a harness racing winner on Hambletonian Day in 2022, capturing the Jim Doherty Memorial for 2-year-old female trotters at The Meadowlands, and her connections hope she can find success on the first Saturday in August again this season.

And while trainer Annie Stoebe and owner Lynn Curry have Aug. 5, the date of the $500,000 Hambletonian Oaks at The Big M, circled on the calendar, there is, of course, work to be done in the meantime. Instagram Model takes her next step on the road to the Oaks on Friday (June 16) when she faces six rivals in the second of two $104,371 divisions of the Empire Breeders Classic for 3-year-old female trotters at Vernon Downs.

Instagram Model is one of four Oaks-eligible horses in the race, joined by Sadie Hanover, Pride N Joy and Canterbury Hanover. Sadie Hanover, from the stable of trainer Linda Toscano, is unbeaten in four starts this season. Instagram Model has a win and a second in her two outings so far this year.

Sadie Hanover, who will start from post four, is the 8-5 morning-line favorite with Scott Zeron in the sulky. Zeron also has driven Instagram Model, who leaves from post six, and will have Jason Bartlett in the bike Friday. Instagram Model is the 5-2 second choice.

“It’s not going to be easy, but this will give us an idea what we have to look forward to this year,” Stoebe said. “I couldn’t have asked (Instagram Model) to train back any better. She grew over the winter and filled out even more. Mentally, she’s the same girl she was last year, just maybe a little more strong-willed.

“We’re definitely looking forward to her schedule this year.”

Stoebe, who has a six-horse stable, is in her seventh year as a trainer. Last season, Stoebe won 13 of 27 starts and earned $353,539 in purses, led by Instagram Model. The filly won five of eight races and banked $254,367. The Doherty was among four Grand Circuit victories for the filly, with two preliminary rounds of the Kindergarten Classic Series and a division of the W.N. Reynolds Memorial.

Instagram Model was purchased by Curry, who bought his first horse in 2020, for $350,000 at the 2021 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale. Her second dam is Check Me Out, a two-time Dan Patch Award winner, and her dam is a half-sister to 2021 Dan Patch Award-winning male trotter King Of The North.

“It’s exciting for me and Lynn to have a horse racing at this level so early in both of our careers,” Stoebe said. “The Oaks and the Breeders Crown are our two main goals with her this year. When I did my staking at the beginning of the year, those were the races that I want her perfectly prepped for, and then I built her schedule around that.”

Instagram Model finished second by a length to Royal Filly in her seasonal debut in a division of the New York Sire Stakes on May 29 at Vernon despite a personal 1:52.1 mile. Her time would have been good enough to win any of the remaining 11 trot races on that day’s card.

She returned to win a NYSS division by 2-1/4 lengths in 1:54.1 on June 9 at Tioga Downs.

“I’ve been very pleased with her,” Stoebe said. “She got nipped at the wire the first start. Last week, she was able to cruise. It was nice to have an easy start going into this weekend. If I can pick up an easy one here or there, I’m not going to complain.”

The opening division of the EBC for the filly trotters also includes four Hambletonian Oaks eligibles: Kayleigh S, Gigi Hanover, In Italian and Royal Filly. Kayleigh S was last season’s 2-year-old filly New York Sire Stakes champion.

The first of two EBC divisions for the sophomore colts and geldings features another 2022 Hambletonian Day winner, Kilmister, who won the Peter Haughton Memorial. The Marcus Melander trainee is one of two Hambletonian eligibles in the field, with Country Dagger. The purse for the first division is $95,771.

Four Hambletonian eligibles will take the track in the $97,022 second division: The Gruffalo, Onion Gum, Tillio’s Action and Kierkegaard K. The Gruffalo was last season’s 2-year-old male New York Sire Stakes champion.

Racing begins at 12:15 p.m. (EDT) Friday at Vernon Downs.

For complete race entries, click here.

by Ken Weingartner, for the USTA