MONTICELLO, NY — The final race of the afternoon on August 19 at the “Mighty M” was a New York Sire Stakes (NYSS) 2-Year Old Filly Trot, a high-end harness race. It was won by My Debt Collector, with a time of 1:59, and driven by veteran driver Jim Taggart Jr., who sat pretty in the cart.

My Debt Collector is owned by Mel Hartman, Herb Liverman, David McDuffee and Little E LLC, and the win at Monticello Raceway marked her second trip to the winner’s circle in five starts.

“The New York Sire Stakes [NYSS] was the first program of its type developed in North America, and later became the model for state-bred harness racing programs in nearly all the harness racing states and provinces,” according to a flyer on the history of the NYSS.

Sponsored by the state’s harness racing industry, the first NYSS events took to the cinders in 1961. Four years later, the official program was launched, thanks to the Empire States’ harness tracks and breeders.

Monday’s race marked the last NYSS race of the 2024 season at Monticello, and was preceded at the local track by seven events, which began on June 3. 

A highlight of the day was a group of kids watching the action from the small grandstands. They were from the Beaver Lake Estates, a vacation community in Monticello.

“A bunch of us moms got together and arranged some activities on the first day of ‘Mommy Camp’, said Shara Levine. “We met one of the horses. It was super exciting, and it was like ‘When are we going to meet the horse, when are we going to meet the horse?’,” she said.

Despite attempts by this sports scribbler, Vanishing Act, a Standardbred pacer, declined to comment.

Perhaps reflecting horse-wise that just a few minutes before a rainstorm briefly lashed the cinders, My Debt Collector cashed in big by winning the $160,300 New York Sire Stakes $160,300 purse in Race #8.