Finger Lakes Gaming

GENESEE VALLEY BREEDERS' HANDICAP TO BE RUN ON OLD FASHIONED DAY

Contact: David Mattice
Publicity Dept.
585-924-3232 x234
NEWS RELEASE

FARMINGTON, N.Y. – The 33rd renewal of the $50,000 Genesee Valley Breeders’ Handicap is scheduled to be run on Saturday at Finger Lakes Gaming and Racetrack. Ruffino is the 123-pound highweight for the one mile and one-sixteenth route for New York breds 3-year-olds and upward.

The 7-year-old gelding has eight career wins and has amassed a total of $338,460 in purse earnings. He won the $75,000 Cormorant division of the New York Stallion stakes series at Aqueduct on November 15, 2009. The H. James Bond-trainee will make his first Finger Lakes appearance on Saturday after finishing fourth in the $70,000 Evan Shipman Handicap at Saratoga in his most recent start on July 26. Jockey Michael Luzzi is listed to ride the 5-2 morning line favorite for owner Tina Marie Bond.

Luzzi guided Ibboye to victory in the $161,600 New York Derby in his last visit to Finger Lakes on July 17. The 40-year-old journeyman completed a sweep of the late daily double with a win aboard Hook Me Up in the next race. Luzzi has registered 3,171 wins in his 22 year career and has amassed a total of $96,740,616 in purse earnings. Two of his 232 lifetime stakes triumphs where achieved at "the thumb". He also won the $156,612 Lady Finger Stakes with Mother Russia on September 1, 2008.

The Genesee Valley Breeders’ Association (G.V.B.A.) is the oldest thoroughbred breeding organization in the United States. The G.V.B.A. awards program is administered by the New York Breeding and Development Fund Corporation, and it continues to provide monies for breeders and stallion awards and enhanced purses for registered New York-breds.

The $50,000 Genesee Valley Breeders’ Handicap will be run as part of the festivities planned for Old Fashioned Day. One Dollar Hot Dogs and 50 cent sodas will be sold outside the Clubhouse entrance and there will be 50-cent individual racing programs at all program stands. Beginning at 11:30am, the first 750 Members to check in at Player Extras may request to receive five Finger Lakes Jockey Trading Cards. The annual jockey footrace will take place between the sixth and seventh races to benefit the Don MacBeth Memorial Jockey Fund. Post time for the first race is set at 1:10 p.m.