Finger Lakes to Serve Up Lucrative Monday Card

The $165,368 New York Breeders’ Futurity highlights one of the richest cards in the history of Finger Lakes Gaming & Racetrack, with three stakes races and four claiming-series finals packed into the nine-race program Oct. 21.

The New York Breeders’ Futurity, a six-furlong sprint for state-bred 2-year-olds, is the premier race on the card, but the $50,000 Genesee Valley Breeders’ Stakes and the $50,000 Jack Betta Be Rite Stakes also drew large, competitive fields.

The three stakes—all featuring New York-breds—comprise legs one, three and four of the Pick 5. The Genesee Valley Breeders, with eight horses entered, is race 5. A 10-horse field is entered for the Jack Betta Be Rite in race 7, immediately followed by a nine-horse showdown in the Futurity.

And the four claiming-series finals start in race 1 and make up the entire early Pick 4, with each race named in honor of a Finger Lakes star from yesteryears: Unhinged Iron, Mt. Rushmore, Wise Awake and North Warning. Post time for the first race is 1 p.m.

“This is just a terrific card that not only highlights the New York breeding program but provides a little of everything: budding stars in the Futurity, current stalwarts in the Genesee Valley Breeders and Jack Betta Be Rite, and a walk down memory lane with horses that were the building blocks of this historic track,” said Finger Lakes Director of Racing Todd Haight.

The 62nd running of the New York Breeders’ Futurity drew the fourth- and fifth-place finishers from the grade 3 $175,000 Futurity, a six-furlong sprint run on the turf at Belmont at Aqueduct on Oct. 4. Under Who’s Radar finished fourth for trainer Michael Maker while In the Chase was fifth for trainer Carlos David.

Under Who’s Radar, a $110,000 yearling purchase, is by Violence out of the Empire Maker mare Comme Chez Soi and will be ridden by Manny Franco. Listed as the 9-5 morning-line favorite, the colt broke his maiden in his career debut on at Saratoga on July 19, won a turf sprint at Kentucky Downs on Sept. 1 but was disqualified to second, and then was fourth in the Futurity.

In the Chase is a colt by Weekend Hideaway out of the More Than Ready mare She’s Always Ready. He, too, is 1-for 3, winning at Saratoga in his debut on July 25 before running fourth in the $200,000 Funny Cide at Saratoga on Aug. 25. He’s the second choice on the morning line at 7-2.

Jockey Reylu Gutierrez will be aboard In the Chase for the first time. Raised in the shadows of Finger Lakes, where his father, Luis, trains and his uncle, Jose, formerly rode, Gutierrez has three graded stakes victories this year: at Del Mar, Sam Houston, and Keeneland.

Bold Fortune, a gelded son of Central Banker out of the Posse mare Might Be, is 4-1 on the morning line. He has run twice, finishing third in his debut at Saratoga on Aug. 21 before defeating an 11-horse field by 10 1/2 lengths on Sept. 22 at Belmont at Aqueduct. His regular rider, Dylan Davis, will be aboard for trainer George Weaver.

Maker’s Candy headlines the 1 1/16th-mile Genesee Valley Breeders’ Stakes, returning to Finger Lakes 15 months after a neck defeat as the odds-on favorite in the 2023 New York Derby. Franco will ride the Maker trainee, who is 1-for-7 this year and 5-for-17 in his career with earnings of $393,910. He was stakes placed twice in the mud at Saratoga over the summer.

In the Jack Betta Be Rite for fillies and mares, 3-year-old Sweet Brown Sugar tackles older foes as the 3-1 morning-line favorite in the 1 1/16-mile contest.

The Paul Barrow trainee is 4-for-8 this year, with stakes victories in the East View on March 17 at Aqueduct and the Niagara on June 24 at Finger Lakes. She also ran second in the New York Oakes on July 15 at Finger Lakes and was sixth in the Fleet Indian on Aug. 25 at Saratoga.

Jeremias Flores will again ride. He has been aboard Sweet Brown Sugar in each of her five starts at Finger Lakes (4-for 5). She is 6-for-10 lifetime with earnings of $214,400.Midtown Lights is the second choice on the morning line at 4-1. The 4-year-old filly is 3-for-7 this year with earnings of $168,420. She was claimed from trainer Brad Cox on Aug. 14 at Saratoga by Carlos David. Franco gets the mount.

Two of the claiming-series finals will be distance tests. The first race on the card, the Unhinged Iron, will feature six fillies and mares going a mile and an eighth with a purse of $25,000.

The fourth race, the $30,000 North Warning, will be a rare 1 3/4-miles test of stamina. The track record for the distance is 3:05.2 and was set in 1977 by Win Eddie.

The other two claiming-series finals are six-furlong sprints, each with a purse of $25,000.

Monday’s Finger Lakes free program

Racing gates open 11:30 am. Admission and parking are free.

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