OZONE PARK, N.Y. – A pair of $500,000 events slated for Saturday in the New York Stallion Stakes Series program, races restricted to eligible New York-sired 2-year-olds, has attracted a total of 29 entries with 13 fillies entered in the Fifth Avenue and an overflow field of 16 males entered in the Great White Way, at Aqueduct Racetrack.
The $500,000 NYSSS Great White Way is slated as the closing race on Saturday’s lucrative 11-race program, while its sister race, the $500,000 NYSSS Fifth Avenue for eligible state-sired juvenile fillies, will go as Race 8. The stakes-laden card is headlined by the Grade 2, $500,000 Cigar Mile in Race 10 and also offers the Grade 3, $250,000 Elite Power [Race 5], as well as a pair of Grade 2, $250,000 stakes for 2-year-olds in the Demoiselle [Race 3], for fillies offering 10-5-3-2-1 Kentucky Oaks qualifying points to the top-five finishers and the Remsen [Race 9], a 10-5-3-2-1 Kentucky Derby qualifier. First post on the card that attracted 106 total entries is 11:20 a.m. Eastern.
“Working in partnership with NYRA, we’re proud to see robust fields for each of the New York Stallion Stakes races on Saturday,” said Najja Thompson, Executive Director of New York Thoroughbred Breeders, Inc. “With the quality of both proven and incoming stallions standing in New York each year, the New York Stallion Stakes Series remains a key component of our program, offering important black-type opportunities for owners and breeders of registered New York stallions.”
Honest Mischief, who stands for a fee of $7,500 at Sequel Stallions and was New York’s leading freshman sire last year, boasts the most entrants across the two stakes with seven. The 9-year-old son of Into Mischief will be represented in the Fifth Avenue by Oh, Braverthanubelieve, Honest Reason, and Daniella Marie; while his Great White Way contenders include True Legend, Spirit of New York and the also-eligible Pure Mischief.
“It’s a real credit to our breeders and we thank them for the support,” said Carlos Manresa, Director of Operations for Sequel. “Overall, Honest Mischief has been wonderful for us and he’s continuing to deliver. He was the number one first crop-sire in New York last year and is currently the leading 2-year-old sire in New York. He’s really exceeded expectations. We’re excited for more of them to be getting to the track.”
Last year, progeny of Honest Mischief won both of the $500,000 NYSSS events with Stone Smuggler taking the Fifth Avenue and Sacrosanct capturing the Great White Way.
“Last year was amazing – that put us in the top 10 nationwide. It was really the icing on the cake,” Manresa said. “The purse structure in New York is unbelievable. To be able to take a shot on New York-sired horses and know if you pick the right one you could be more than OK here is important – both Sacrosanct and Stone Smuggler had phenomenal years.”
Honest Mischief, who finished eighth in the country as a freshman sire in 2024, has built on that success in 2025 as he is currently the leading New York-sire of 2-year-olds with $781,373 in purse earnings [as of Dec. 3], topped by Spirit of New York, who has banked $157,500 and will look to add to that haul in the Great White Way.
Trained by Adam Rice for owners Michael Dubb, The Elkstone Group, Winners Win and Mark Parkinson, Spirit of New York, bred in the Empire State by Magic Oaks Farm, captured the state-bred Bertram F. Bongard in September at Belmont at the Big A. The gelding will make his first foray on dirt after compiling a 4-2-0-1 record on turf.
Gatsas Stables, R. A. Hill Stable and Qatar Racing’s maiden True Legend, a $150,000 OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training purchase, also makes his dirt debut for trainer George Weaver.
Bred in New York by Cypress Creek Equine, True Legend worked in 20.3 seconds at the sale where he was consigned by Wavertree Stables and purchased by Weaver.
“He’s produced an interesting amount of turf horses which is not something we probably expected. Ultimately, he’s been pretty versatile,” Manresa said. “He’s outshined the regional program and people at sales in Kentucky and beyond know about him and are pleased with how precocious they are. You want to prove that you’re not a flash in the pan and he’s shown that he’s not a first-crop fluke.”
William J. Butler’s New York-homebred Oh is another exciting prospect, who puts a perfect 2-for-2 record on the line in the Fifth Avenue for trainer Mike Maker. She graduated on debut at Saratoga Race Course ahead of a game half-length win in the Lady Finger at Finger Lakes.
Manresa is hopeful that Sequel can build on their success with incoming stallion Newgrange [17-7-0-4, $1,014,584], a 6-year-old multiple graded stakes-winning son of Violence.
“Over the course of his career, he won graded races from ages 3-5 and continued to get better with age and retired sound,” Manresa said. “To add a son of Violence, who was a leading first and second crop sire [by wins] in his own right in 2017-18, is exciting. I think he’ll be very well received. We’ve put together a group of owners that will support him heavily and will plan on breeding him to high-quality mares.”
Hidden Lake Farm’s Galilean, who stands at Questroyal North for a fee of $3,500, will be represented by four runners in Saturday’s NYSSS events. The 9-year-old son of Uncle Mo’s Fifth Avenue hopefuls include Fancy Lights and Galileans Girl, while his Great White Way protagonists are Froutien and Dinghy Bar.
“Galilean is a very pretty horse and characteristic of what you see with Uncle Mo, but he’s a little shorter back with a bigger hind end,” said Hidden Lake’s Chris Bernhard. “They look very quick, and he excelled at the 2-year-old in training sales because they worked well and sold well.”
Galilean is fifth on the New York 2-Year-Old sires list with four winners from 15 runners and will look to boost his numbers in the Great White Way with Tagermeen Racing’s Froutien, who was a $700,000 purchase at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale where he worked in 10.1.
“Froutien was an RNA [at OBS March] and Ciaran Dunne brought him over to the Timonium sale and he had a brilliant work – he went over there and sold huge,” Bernhard said.
Trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, Froutien, bred in the Empire State by Andy M. Beadnell and Susan K. Beadnell, graduated at second asking in a seven-furlong maiden sprint on September 13 at Belmont at the Big A. He was off a step slow last out in the state-bred Sleepy Hollow on October 25 and failed to fire his best shot when last-of-6.
Reeves Thoroughbred Racing’s Fancy Lights looms a strong contender in the Fifth Avenue as she makes her dirt debut for trainer George Weaver following a pacesetting three-quarter length fourth in the state-bred Key Cents over one-mile of firm Aqueduct turf on November 13.
Bred in New York by Franklin Ave. Equine, Michael DiDonato and Charles Esau, the $80,000 purchase from the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Fall Mixed Sale boasts a 4-1-1-1 record, including a third-out graduation sprinting six furlongs over firm local turf on October 5.
Galilean is the third-leading New York first-crop sire – a list topped by Leinster with the late Combatant in second. Galilean’s top-earning 2-year-old is the Florida-bred Augustinian, a $250,000 OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training purchase.
Augustinian, who hit the board in a pair of Spa maidens this summer for Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse, graduated last month in a swiftly-run maiden sprint covering five furlongs over the Gulfstream Park synthetic in 55.94.
Bernhard said he is excited about the opening of the new Belmont Park in September 2026, which will feature four racing surfaces: the traditional 1 1/2-mile dirt main track, two turf courses, and a one-mile Tapeta track, which will serve as the exclusive surface for winter racing.
“We would love it if the synthetic track was there now. I think it will only enhance Galilean’s opportunities in 2026,” Bernhard said.
Bernhard is also buoyed by the earning potential for New York-breds, which is set to increase with a two-part plan to provide purse parity on the NYRA circuit.
Beginning January 1, 2026, all New York-bred overnight races for 2-year-olds [foals of 2024] on the NYRA circuit will offer purse amounts matching their open-company counterparts.
Effective January 1, 2027, all New York-bred overnight races will be run for purse money equal to their open-company counterparts, allowing the New York-bred foal crop to benefit from the financial reward of purse parity throughout their racing careers
To that end, Bernhard announced last month that a pair of well-regarded graded stakes winners in Disarm [19-4-4-2, $1.6M] and Confidence Game [20-3-1-4, $823,962] are joining his stallion roster for 2026 with plans in place to support those stallions with top-quality mares.
“NYRA has done a fantastic job supporting the New York breeders with breeder awards, stallion awards and owner awards,” Bernhard said. “Purse parity is coming, and we’ll be running maiden races for big purses. I applaud what NYRA has done to help our program, and I think it will only get bigger and better over the years to come.”
While Bernhard has certainly made a strong investment in the long-term future of New York’s stallions, he is hopeful that one of Galilean’s young runners might step forward on Saturday.
“It would be a really cool way to finish off the year if we could have solid finishes in the big races this coming weekend,” Bernhard said.
