On the warm and sunny afternoon of April 3, Joe Faraldo and Always A Good Time rallied and then held off a hard-charging Masster Blue to win the $9,000 American Harness Drivers Club Trot at Freehold Raceway.

Lightly regarded and sent away at odds of over 21-1, Always A Good Time paid $44.60 for win.

“Despite the odds I thought we had a good chance to win even though we were the second longest shot in the race,” Faraldo said. “It's a good thing my horse couldn't read the tote board.”

After the starter released the field one of the favourites Southwind Frost (Bob Hechkoff) went off-stride as did Da Boogie Man (Tony Ciufettteli) but the betting favourite, post seven starter Ooh Rah (John Calbrese) trotted to the front and led the field by the first stanza in :28.3. Once on top Calabrese kept the pedal to the metal and they showed the way by the half in :58.3.

Faraldo was the first to move and once on the limb his trotter chugged forward and they finally ranged alongside the tempo-setter at the three-quarters as the timer flashed 1:29.1

“When we rounded the final turn and headed for home I had a couple of lengths on Verruso,” Faraldo said “But that lead began to diminish and when we hit the wire we were noses apart and it was hard to tell who the winner was. But the photo showed that we (Always a Good Time) held on by a nose.”

For the driving barrister it was his 153rd career victory, with Always A Good Time tripping the timer in 1:59.3. Always A Good Time is owned by the Triple D Stable and trained by Scott Di Domenico.

(AHDC)