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Schenectady, NY --- The Agriculture & New York State Horse Breeding Development Fund today released the approved schedules for the 2018 New York Sire Stakes season, announcing that this year’s $1.8 million NYSS finals will be hosted at Yonkers Raceway on Saturday (Sept. 22). Finals for the Excelsior Series will be held at Saratoga on Sunday (Sept. 23).


The NYSS season officially begins Tuesday (May 8), with 3-year-old filly trotters in both the NYSS and Excelsior Series divisions at Yonkers. The schedule for the County Fair Series will be released in the coming weeks.


The New York Sire Stakes is the state's premier harness racing program for 2- and 3-year-old Standardbreds designed to stimulate the breeding, buying and racing of Standardbred horses in New York State. It is the nation's oldest harness racing program of its kind, and is administered by the Fund, which provides assistance to county agricultural societies to maintain and repair racing facilities. The Fund also contributes to both the statewide 4-H program and the Dr. Harry M. Zweig Fund for Equine Research at Cornell University.


“The creators of the New York Sire Stakes program many decades ago had incredible vision for what was needed to grow and expand Standardbred breeding in this state and support agriculture,” said M. Kelly Young, executive director, Agriculture & NYS Horse Breeding Development Fund. “It promises to be another exciting season as some strong finishers from last year return to the track, and a new crop of horses begin to make a name for themselves.”


The NYSS finals feature eight championship events offering $225,000 in purses for each race. Individual race purses for the Excelsior finals have been increased this year to $55,000. The NYSS Consolation finals and the County Fair finals will be contested for $40,000 and $10,000 purses, respectively.


As part of its legislative mission, the Fund receives financial resources from the pari-mutuel handle and gaming at licensed tracks across the state, which it uses to provide purse money. Since the inception of racinos at harness tracks, NYSS purses have more than doubled and continue to increase annually, further spurring horse breeding while also creating more jobs and greater public involvement in Standardbred horse racing.


Race replays, point totals, and news updates will be available throughout the season at www.nysirestakes.com and the official NYSS Facebook and Twitter accounts.