Ten Cent Town captures George Barker Stakes at Finger Lakes

Ten Cent Town did not win the George Barker Stakes by coasting. He won it by taking the worst of the pace, the outside draw and a favorite breathing down his neck, then finding enough late to turn Finger Lakes’ traditional stakes kickoff into a New York-bred sprinting statement.

The 6-year-old gelding by Redesdale held off 1-2 favorite Antonio of Venice by a half-length in the $50,000 George W. Barker Stakes, giving Reylu Gutierrez and trainer Brad Cox their first stakes success together with the horse and giving owner Michael Dubb a useful sort who looks increasingly right for this kind of company. The six-furlong race, run over a sloppy, sealed track, drew only six starters after six scratches from the original 12-horse field, and Ten Cent Town, the 8-5 second choice, returned $5.34 to win.

That mattered because this was not a soft introduction to the state-bred sprint season. The Barker was the 41st edition of the race and the first stakes of the year at Finger Lakes Gaming & Racetrack in Farmington, New York, a spot that often tells horsemen and bettors where the older New York-bred sprint picture is headed. Antonio of Venice came in with more than $600,000 in earnings and a strong New York-bred stakes résumé, so Ten Cent Town was not merely beating a name horse. He was beating the kind of horse that tends to define the division.

Gutierrez sent Ten Cent Town into the race from the outside, and the gelding tracked local veteran Lady’s Golden Guy before moving up to engage the pace. The opening quarter went in :22.97 and the half in :45.80, a fair setup that still left enough pressure for the stretch run to matter. Ten Cent Town answered it, while Antonio of Venice made his run from the inside and had to settle for second. Quiet Wisdom was third, followed by Cable Ready, Lady’s Golden Guy and Tacony Road.

For Ten Cent Town, the Barker was also the latest step in a claim-and-improvement pattern that has made him more interesting with every barn change. He was claimed for $35,000 by Cox for Dubb after a neck win at Aqueduct on April 12, then finished second by a neck in a New York-bred allowance or optional claimer there on May 7 in his first start for the new connections. His record now stands at 8 wins, 5 seconds and 5 thirds from 29 starts, with earnings of $392,340.

That gives this Barker a broader meaning than a local stakes trophy. Lady’s Golden Guy was making his fifth consecutive start in the race, and last year’s running was decided in the stewards’ room after Tacony Road was disqualified. Ten Cent Town’s victory, by contrast, came the hard way and in plain sight, the kind of win that can shape the summer path for horsemen and give bettors a New York-bred sprinter worth following beyond Finger Lakes.