Seeing as though the Saratoga Casino Hotel did not have an Open Trot scheduled on its program of live racing for Sunday (Oct. 14), the $15,000 Winners Over trot served as the feature during the matinee card.
Many of the participants of the Winners Over were droppers from the Open, so the race had the feel of a regular Sunday feature.
Phil Fluet’s Dragin The Wagon, by Angus Hall, had been the runner-up in the Open four times in his last six starts, but the drop to Winners Over led to the end of his ‘seconditis,’ as the eight-year-old trotted coast-to-coast mile and stopped the clock in 1:55.1.
Dragin The Wagon, pictured victorious at Saratoga on Sunday, October 14, 2018
Dragin The Wagon utilizes his early speed pretty much weekly, and he did just that as he cruised to an easy lead on Sunday. He faced very little pressure during the middle half of the mile, but around the final turn Dragin The Wagon was met with a challenge from another class dropper, Cash Me Out (driven by Mark Beckwith). The duo squared off while the pocket sitter, Wings Of Royalty (Shawn Gray), began to fade from the scene.
Dragin The Wagon dug in and held off Cash Me Out to record the victory. Wings Of Royalty earned the show spot. Dragin The Wagon paid $6.10 to win and led an exacta and triple that paid $25 and $79, respectively.
Live racing at Saratoga will resume on Thursday afternoon with a first-race post time of 12:15 p.m.
(With files from Saratoga Casino Hotel)