Little Santamonica scored a wire-to-wire win in the Friday feature at Saratoga Casino Hotel. The veteran nine-year-old loves the lead and driver Jimmy Devaux made sure to get her there in the $18,000 Fillies and Mares Open.

Co-favoured at odds of 8-5, Little Santamonica never endured an anxious moment and despite first half fractions of :27 and :55.3, drew away to win by almost five lengths in 1:52.2 for owner Courtney Crawford.

The victory was the 12th on the season for the Jordan Hope-trained distaffer, who has thrived at Saratoga when coming to town to compete over the past few years. It was the fourth win in the local Open this year for the classy Little Steven mare, who joins So Nice (sired by Ponder) as the only two lady pacers to prevail in as many as four Opens in 2017.

Brown Brinny (Bruce Aldrich Jr.) finished second in her debut in the local feature while longshot West Liberty (Chris Long) came on for third.

Little Santamonica paid $5.20 to win and led an exacta and triple that came back $16.80 and $82, respectively.

Live racing continues on Saturday night at Saratoga with a first post time set for 6:45 p.m.

(With files from Saratoga Casino Hotel)