Limelight Beach made his Saratoga debut a winning one on Saturday night (December 3) in the $18,000 Open Pace.
The Ron Burke trainee is enjoying another terrific year and brought his talents to the Spa for the first time to take part in the Saturday feature. Assigned the outside post, Limelight Beach blasted out to the early lead in a :26.3 opening quarter, but driver Stephane Bouchard gave the five-year-old pacer a bit of a second quarter breather before he faced his first legitimate challenge in the stretch. Limelight Beach cruised away in the final strides to prevail in 1:51.3 on a chilly December night in the Spa City. Artful Way (Frank Coppola Jr.) came on to finish second while JK Panache (Mark Beckwith) had to settle for third.
Limelight Beach was the race’s 6-5 favourite in the betting and led an exacta and triple that paid $32.20 and $84.50, respectively.
The Somebeachsomewhere gelding is owned by Burke Racing Stable LLC, Weaver Bruscemi LLC, M1 Stable LLC, and Wingfield Brothers LLC.
Burke had a training triple on the Saturday card.
(With files from Saratoga Casino Hotel)