A pair of $10,700 events for New York sired trotters served as co-features on the Wednesday (Nov. 6) card at Saratoga Casino Hotel.
Meg Reynolds’ Kapow, by Conway Hall, was the fastest of the feature winners. Driver Phil Fluet situated the six-year-old into the pocket in the early going and parlayed the trip to victory. Kapow came into the race with only one win on the season. He started from an improved post on Wednesday and was situated well for the stretch drive. He wound up riding the coattails of the race’s favourite, Song Chapter (driven by Billy Dobson), every step of the way. Kapow popped the pocket in the stretch and reeled in the public’s 6-5 top choice before drawing away late to win in 2:00. Paying $5.90 to win, Kapow bested Song Chapter, who continued her trend of finishing second or third on a nearly weekly basis, and longshot Southwind Rich (Chris Long), who earned the show spot.
Kapow, pictured in victory on Nov. 6, 2019.
The other co-feature was won by Leap Year Lucky who went wire-to-wire for driver Jimmy Devaux and trainer Lisa Zabielski. The race served as class relief for the three-year-old gelding who had been overmatched in the two legs of the recently concluded Jim Derue Memorial Trotting Series. Dismissed at odds of 5-1 on Wednesday, Leap Year Lucky held off a late charge from rival Match My Miracle (Brian Cross) to hang on in 2:00.3 to record the third win in his 2019 campaign. Match My Miracle came up second-best, while the race’ s favourite, Royal Casanova (Frank Coppola Jr.), finished third.
Live racing at Saratoga will continue on Thursday afternoon. First post time is set for 12 noon. Race 1 will feature a $2,500 guarantee in the Pick Five pool. The Pick Five is a 50-cent minimum wager.
(Saratoga Casino Hotel)