Truth And Liberty prevailed in her first start in the local Open for fillies and mares on Friday night (October 7) at Saratoga Casino Hotel.

The Bob Lounsbury-trained mare moved first over on the race’s 1-9 betting favourite, Velocity Vespa (Jim Devaux), approaching the half-mile pole and ground the leader into submission before hitting the wire first in 1:53.

Piloted in the $16,000 feature by Bruce Aldrich Jr., Truth And Liberty recorded her ninth win in 32 seasonal tries and did so at odds of 15-1. The four-year-old Total Truth mare is owned by Tracy Moss.

Velocity Vespa had to settle for second-place after prevailing in five of her previous six tries in the local Open for distaffers while Bye Bye Michelle (Mark Beckwith) earned the show spot.

Returning $33 to win in the upset score, Truth And Liberty led an exacta and triple that paid $90.50 and $491.50, respectively.

(With files from Saratoga)