Shawn Gray sat behind an Open winner at Saratoga Casino Hotel for the second consecutive night when he piloted the Gary Levine-trained Hestherightstuff to a feature score on Saturday, Aug. 3.

Hestherightstuff hit the board in both of his starts in the Open since returning from a layoff of more than four months and on Saturday went off at odds of 4-1 in the $20,833 Open Handicap Pace.

Gray got away third with the Levine trainee before attempting to brush to the front approaching the half-mile pole. The move proved to be successful and Hestherightstuff clicked off a half in :56.1. From there, the seven-year-old American Ideal gelding never had an anxious moment and drew away to win by 2-1/2 lengths in a mile clocked in 1:52. Talking Tom (Chris Long), who was the pacesetter in the race before being cleared by Hestherightstuff, held strong for second while the favoured Ahi Sunshine (Wally Hennessey) closed to finish third.

A winner in the Open Pace last season, Hestherightstuff recorded his third victory of the 2024 campaign in what was his 10th start, paying $10.20 to win. Talking Tom was second in an exacta that returned $42.60 while Ahi Sunshine rounded out a $211 trifecta.

Levine both owns and trains Hestherightstuff, who gave Gray his second consecutive driving win in an Open this weekend at Saratoga as he sat behind the Alicia Gray-trained The Pantheist A, who cruised to a wire-to-wire victory in the Fillies and Mares Open on Friday night at the Spa.

Live harness racing resumes on Thursday evening with a first post time set for 5 p.m.

(Saratoga Casino Hotel; photo of Hestherightstuff from a previous win)