Four New York-Bred Stakes Anchor Monday Card At Finger Lakes

Basketball admin September 20, 2026 0 Comments

Four New York-Bred Stakes Anchor Monday Card At Finger Lakes

Classy New York-breds will take center stage in four stakes events on Monday at Finger Lakes, including in the $100,634 Lady Finger Stakes for 2-year-old fillies and the $99,615 Aspirant Stakes for 2-year-old males.

The card also is bolstered by the $50,000 six-furlong races for 3-year-olds, the Ontario County Stakes for males and the Niagara Stakes for fillies.

The stakes action starts early, with the 5 1/2-furlong Lady Finger carded as the second race on the nine-race program. First-race post time is 12:55 p.m. (ET).

Sun Kissed Bliss is the 8-5 morning-line favorite in the Lady Finger. The daughter of Mind Control romped in her only career race, winning a maiden special weight contest for state-breds at Saratoga by 5 1/2 lengths on Aug. 30. Kendrick Carmouche will make the trip upstate to again ride for trainer Joe Sharp.

Carmouche won the New York Oaks at Finger Lakes aboard Venetta in July.

“She exceeded expectations in her maiden win. The timing and distance looked perfect as the next steppingstone for her,” Sharp said of Sun Kissed Bliss. “She also worked great on September 14 at Belmont.”

Trainer Paul Barrow will saddle two of the other top contenders in the five-horse field: Pwr of

Persistence, a daughter of Bolt d’Oro, and Sweet Sugar Pie, who was sired by Central Banker.

Both won their career debuts at Finger Lakes.

Jockey Paco Lopez will make his first appearance at Finger Lakes one race later when he rides 2-1 morning-line favorite D I Wire in the Aspirant, also a 51⁄2-furlong test. Lopez leads all riders by wins this year with 274 through Sept. 19.

A Yaupon colt trained by Kelly Breen, D I Wire won his career debut at 51⁄2 furlongs at Saratoga on July 12 and then set the early pace before fading to fifth in the six-furlong, $200,000 Funny Cide on Sept. 7.

“Using his front speed in the Funny Cide maybe backfired on us,” Breen said. “He came back like he didn’t even run (in the Funny Cide). We’re not going to reinvent the wheel on Monday,” noting on paper there doesn’t appear to be much front speed entered.

Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano also makes the trip to Farmington to ride Covered Option, the 5-2 second choice for trainer Lisa Bartkowski. Covered Option ran third in his debut on July 19 at Saratoga before romping by 81⁄4 lengths in a state-bred maiden special weight affair in his next start on Aug. 27.

Last year’s winner of the Lady Finger, the Mike Maker-trained Oh, will make her first start since December when she returns to run in the Niagara, which is the sixth race on the card.

She was 2-for-3 as a 2-year-old but hasn’t raced since she was distanced in a New York Stallion Series race at Aqueduct on Dec. 5. Reylu Gutierrez will ride Oh for the first time. Listed at 3-1 on the morning line, she drew the far outside post seven.

Galileans Girl is the early favorite for trainer Linda Dixon and jockey Nazario Alvarado. The

daughter of Galilean is 2-for-5 this year, running second in the slop in her past two outings against much more seasoned rivals at Finger Lakes.

In the Ontario County, the seventh race, Stickupwithoutagun is the 2-1 morning-line favorite for trainer Ilkay Kantarmaci. Christopher Elliott will ride.

Claimed for $75,000 out of the Kenny McPeek barn on Aug. 14 at Saratoga, the son of McKinzie stepped into the deep end of the pool when he raced in the H. Allen Jerkens Memorial (G1) two weeks later at the Spa. He finished fourth behind Englishman in the five-horse field.

Lord King is the second choice on the morning line at 5-2 while making his stakes debut. The son of King for a Day has three wins and three seconds in his six starts this year at Finger Lakes.

Gutierrez, his regular rider, will again be aboard for his father and trainer, Luis Gutierrez.

This story was originally published September 20, 2026 at 2:32 PM.