The seventh annual John Mongeon Sr. Memorial Trotting Series headlined Wednesday afternoon's (April 17) card at Saratoga Casino Hotel, and all three divisional winners achieved lifetime marks in their respective $10,000 splits.

John Stark Jr.’s Xcuseme came into Wednesday two-for-two on the season and on paper appeared to be the one to beat in first-leg series action. The gelded son of RC Royalty wasted little time moving out the lead as his race’s 1-5 betting favourite and never faced an anxious moment en route to a career-best 1:57.1 win. He was the fastest of the series’ winners on the day by a significant amount.

Living Proof I Am (Phil Fluet) was aggressive in the early going in his division and found himself on the front end for the first time aided by his inside post position. The Andy Byler-owned and trained trotter had hit the board in five of his seven starts on the year heading into his try in the Mongeon Trot, in which he held off the late charge of rival Pumping Irony (Steve Genois) in 1:58.3.

The final division of the day went the way of Lisa Zabielski’s Aerial Flight. Overcoming her outside post, Aerial Flight sat the pocket to favourite Powerscourt (Mickey McGivern) and surged by him in the stretch to prevail in 1:58.4.

Leg two of the Mongeon Memorial Trot will take place next Wednesday (April 24) with a $30,000 final set for the following week.

Live racing continues on Thursday (April 18) at Saratoga with first post time set for 12 noon.

(Saratoga Casino Hotel)