Missile J, the winner of the $300,000 Art Rooney Pace in late May at Yonkers Raceway, headlines one of the two $58,000 (est.) divisions of the New York Sire Stakes for three-year-old colt and gelding pacers that arrive at Buffalo Raceway on Wednesday evening (June 15).
Co-owned by KJ Stables and the Purple Haze Stables, Missile J (American Ideal-Cantor's Delight) went unraced as a two-year-old but he's sure making up for the lost season now.
In just nine career starts, Missile J has five wins, two seconds and a third, good for $198,675 in purse earnings. He's won six of his last eight starts and finished in second twice, having lost by just one length each time.
Missile J's win in the Rooney on May 28 at Yonkers was impressive to say the least, as he started from the dreaded Post 8, but driver Brian Sears managed to work out a perfect trip with him. They stopped the timer in 1:53 and beat Tailgunner Hanover by two and a quarter lengths.
Last week, however, in a $39,900 division of the NYSS at Monticello Raceway, Missile J (who was driven by Tim Tetrick) tried to the cut the mile from Post 7 but couldn't hang on late, as Talk Show got up in time for the victory in 1:53.4.
Jim Morrill Jr. has gotten the call to steer Missile J, who is the 7-5 morning line choice. He is trained by Linda Toscano.
The main threat in the race could come from Manny, who scored from the rail last week in the NYSS at Monticello in 1:54.2 for Chris Lems.
Others in the five-horse field, which has been carded as Race 9, are Nox Vegas Bluechip (Kevin Cummings), JK Heaven Sent (Joe Bongiorno) and Carlos Danger (Billy Dobson).
Fine Diamond will look to sparkle in the opening division (Race 8), as he is set to take on five other rivals. Fine Diamond has recorded three time from five starts this season. He has drawn Post 2 and Bongiorno is scheduled to be in the sulky. Fine Diamond finished second to Manny last week in the NYSS at Monticello. Fine Diamond failed to win a race in 2015, but put $145,114 in the bank from just 11 starts.
The favourite at 2-1 is Craftship (Morrill Jr.) who has drawn the rail. He won a $39,900 leg last week at Monticello over Artmagic by one and three-quarter lengths in 1:53.2.
The remainder of the field includes Roll Away Joe (Kevin Cummings), Bottom Deals (Lems), Autotune Hanover (Dobson) and Cenovis (Ray Fisher Jr.).
There will also be three $15,000 divisions of the Excelsior ‘A’ Series and one non-betting race for the Excelsior ‘B’ Series.
Racing will begin at 5 p.m. on Wednesday with a 11-race card set.
(Buffalo Raceway)