Dilly Dali went coast-to-coast in the Friday feature at Saratoga Casino Hotel on what was a big night for driver Bruce Aldrich Jr.
Aldrich motivated the class-dropping Dilly Dali to move out to the early lead in the $10,060 conditional/claimer for fillies and mares, a lead she would never relinquish. One week removed from a third-place finish in the Open for distaffers, Dilly Dali recorded the wire-to-wire win in 1:54, holding off late bids from Bettorhaveanother (Frank Coppola Jr.) and fellow Open dropper Bye Bye Michelle (Dan Cappello Jr.), who finished second and third, respectively, en route to her eighth score of 2016.
The Jose Godinez-trained Dali mare was a big favourite in the betting while backed to the tune of 2-5. She led an exacta and triple that returned a chalky $9.10 and $16.00 in what wound up being a six-horse race after three scratches shrunk the field down significantly.
The victory was one of three on the night for Aldrich, which was second only to Frank Coppola Jr.’s five-win evening.
(With files from Saratoga)