YONKERS, NY, Thursday, September 5, 2019 – It was the Sweet 16th and final downstate Empire visit of the season Thursday night (Sept. 5th), with Yonkers Raceway hosting the $161,500 New York Sire Stakes Mike Cipriani Trot for harness racing 3-year-old fillies.
All of 10 lasses entered, so a pair of $80,750 quintets comprised the event.
The opener immediately had a different look when 1-10 favorite Quincy Blue Chip (Jim Morrill Jr.) jumped it off.
That left pole-sitting Sensibility (Scott Zeron, $11.60) to her own devices, and she finished what she started (:28.4, :58.2, 1:27.2, 1:56.2). Stella Jane (Jason Bartlett) chased around the oval, missing a neck, with Pilgrim's Lass (Jim Marohn Jr.) third.
For Sensibility, a daughter of Muscle Mass co-owned by (trainer) George Ducharme, W J Donovan, Joe Sbrocco and Jim Winske, it was his second win in 11 seasonal starts. The exacta paid $54.50, with neither triple nor superfecta wagering offered to the abbreviated number of starters.
The second sire stakes event saw Winndevie (Bartlett, $2.30) get stung early by Sweet Chapter (Matt Kakaley) before making the lead and drawing out.
From post position No. 5, she had no issues (:28.1, :58, 1:26.2, 1:55), the final margin 4½ length. Sweet Chapter finished more than seven lengths ahead of Gobi Princess (Jordan Stratton).
For Winndevie, a Credit Winner miss owned by Purple Haze Stables and trained by Trond Smedshammer, it was her fourth win in 10 '19 tries. The exacta (two wagering choices) paid $4.40, again with neither triple nor superfecta wagering offered due to insufficient participants.
by Frank Drucker, for Yonkers Raceway