NY Stallion Series- Staten Island ($125.000 Purse)
AQU- For Fillies and Mares Three Years Old and Upward Foaled In NY
Seven Furlongs on the Dirt
November 23, 2024

Female NY-breds will get their chance to run in the NY Stallion Series on Saturday in the 16th running of the Staten Island, which is a seven-furlong race on the track. When the race first appeared on the schedule, it ran for just a $75.000 purse, but the increases have only been slight, at best. There aren’t any past winners that immediately jump out at me other than Clutch Situation, but that was for other reasons. 2018 winner Wolfslayer made over $1,000.000 in her career, so perhaps she is the best on the list. Last year, the Staten Island was won by Atomic Woman, for Arindel. She’s bounced around a couple times over the last year but now has a home with Williams9 and was a good looking third earlier this month in the Grade 3 Bessarabian Stakes at WO. There are seven running in this year’s race, so let’s take a run through the field:

1- Sandrine (Onlineracingclub.com, ridden by J Rosario)- Other than her debut race, Sandrine has picked up at least some portion of the purse in all of her starts, and if we exclude her last outing, she’s been in the top three in all of them. This includes many stakes, so it’s not as if she is running against weaker competition to accomplish that. Since being picked up by Onlineracingclub.com, Sandrine has picked up two NY-bred stake wins over six starts. This is a little shorter than she is used to going, but not so much so that I feel it will be an issue. Let’s just hope we can write off her outing in the Empire Distaff.

2- Lil Sunshine (Threshold, ridden by M Franco)- A year ago at this time, Threshold was probably thinking a lot bigger for Lil Sunshine, as after all she did place fourth in the BC Juvenile Fillies. Her only two wins in 2024 have been in optional claimers, but with a little more luck with the head bob in the Grade 3 Victory Ride right here in August, she may have won that one. All in all, it’s been a solid year for her and three of her four wins have been at seven furlongs, so she should like the conditions of this one.

3- Nora (Royalty Stables, ridden by I Ortiz Jr)- She’s primarily been on a turf horse since July of last year, making only one dirt start since then. That didn’t go well, and she continued to look better on the turf, with one win and four seconds over her next six races. Being the runner up in the $125.000 Mount Vernon, for NY Breds at SAR, is the highlight of that stretch. Though she was still running well on grass, nothing wrong with changing things up from time to time.

4- Jamaican Coffee (Night Rider Stables, ridden by D Davis)- This filly is all over the place when looking at her past performances. Last time out, she was defeated by eighth lengths, finishing last of three in the $125.000 Hettinger. That September race is the only time that she has run since July, and she probably needed the time off. I’d love to see the version of herself that ran second in the Monomoy Girl in June show up here. If it does, then she has a shot. Regardless, I’m looking elsewhere.

5- Prosecutor (D J C Racing Stables, ridden by L J Luzzi)- Has not done much over her last two races, finishing fifth of six two back in the $100.000 Rondeau Bay Stakes, and then a dismal tenth in the Grade 2 River Run at KEE last month. Prior to those races, she would have been considered a very consistent horse with getting in the money finishes but needs to find a way to get back to that. She had done well in NY-bred stakes earlier in the year, so perhaps that is where the rebound begins.

6- Long Term Parking (TwinTowersRacing, ridden by F Prat)- Not much going on here, at all. Long Term Parking has not even earned a penny over her six starts in 2024 and just gets getting soundly beaten time and time again. Still, the trainer believes in her, but I am not sure that many bettors will do the same.

7- I Made A Decision (Jireh, ridden by J J Castellano)- Well, at least she has not been as bad as Long Term Parking this year. Even here, in I Made A Decision’s last two races, she has been beaten a combined one horse and has lost by fourteen lengths. Seems to be a long way from the horse she was last summer. Perhaps the decision to retire her is one that is getting closer.

Prediction: 2-1-3-5

— NS

Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded