Waitforever N continued her recent Tuesday dominance this week when she overcame post eight in a superb effort to prevail in the $21,918 Fillies and Mares Open Handicap Pace on July 1, highlighting a grand slam for trainer Brett Derue.

The eight-year-old distaff recorded her first victory in a local Open when she scored in 1:52.4 in the ladies’ feature on June 11th. Waitforever N wasted little time in making another trip to the winner’s circle when she repeated in the feature the following week. 

On Tuesday, the veteran had Hall of Fame reinsman Wally Hennessey at the controls as she looked to navigate her way from post eight. Waitforever N raced parked the mile while longshot leader Always Watching (Jordan Derue) set fractions of :27.1, :56, and 1:25.1. At the third station, Waitforever N tipped three-wide from second-over under Hennessey urging before swooping past the group to score in 1:54.3, paying $11.60 to win. Always Watching was a strong second, 1-1/2 lengths behind the winner, while Alittlesidehustl N (Billy Dobson) continued her consistent season by finishing third in the Open.

Waitforever N has won three times this season and has hit the board in 13 of 19 starts. The American Ideal-Waitfornoone mare is a 29-time winner with $417,284 in earnings from 118 appearances. 

She is owned by Stephen Picarazzi, Derue, and Darreyl Bullard, who had their Dark Eclipse N ($6.70) also win on Tuesday’s card. Derue completed a training grand slam on the matinee when American Tour N ($2.50) and Delta Three N ($15.60) went coast-to-coast in their respective races for fillies and mares on a day where New Zealand-breds accounted for all four of the Derue stable’s wins. The trainer improved his seasonal win total to 43 as he aims for his third straight year with more than 100 victories.

Hennessey's win in the feature was one of five victories for the driver. After piloting Derue's American Tour N, he swept the final three races on the card, winning with Crunchberry De Vie ($3.80), Divided We Fall ($4), and Lets Go Jude ($4.10). He is now fewer than 25 wins away from 12,000 in his career.

Live racing resumes on Saturday evening at Saratoga with action set to begin at 6:45 p.m.

(With files from Saratoga Raceway)