Birch Island Betty was recently named one of the four nominees for Filly and Mare Pacer of the Year at Saratoga Casino Hotel in 2021.
Although the Eve Bergeron trainee won’t win the award, she is a nominee due in large part to her success over the course of the last six weeks or so. After recording her first ever win in a local Open in late September, Birch Island Betty finished second or third in five consecutive installments of the $15,000 ladies’ feature heading into Tuesday’s try.
On a chilly afternoon in the Spa City, Birch Island Betty utilized early speed and wound up cutting the mile in the Open for distaffers. Driver Billy Dobson gave the Bergeron trainee a nice breather in the second quarter and reached the half in :58.1. The race’s favourite, Robyn Camden (Jay Randall), put in just a mild bid on the far outside so the task late in the mile for Birch Island Betty was to hold off pocket-sitter Miss Irish Rose A (Larry Stalbaum). She was successful in achieving that feat en route to securing the second Open win of her career as she stopped the timer in 1:55.4. Miss Irish Rose A finished was the runner-up while Robyn Camden earned the show spot.
Birch Island Betty paid $8 to win in the mild upset and led an exacta and triple that returned $39 and $117, respectively. The six-year-old Big Jim mare is owned by Dany Grenier of Ste-Helene-De-Bagot, Que.
The victory was one of four on the day for Dobson who, barring something unforeseen, will finish up the season second in the driver standings for the ’21 campaign.
Live racing resumes on Sunday afternoon with a first post time set for noon.
(With files from Saratoga)