The Sunday (Feb. 24) matinee at Saratoga Casino Hotel consisted of a double feature. Saratoga does not host Saturday night racing until next week, thus the regular Saturday feature joined Sunday’s Open Trot as the highlights of the afternoon card.
The Open Pace was contested for a purse of $16,050, and a familiar winner of the top class prevailed on Sunday. JK Panache (by Art Major) is a perennial Pacer of the Year nominee at Saratoga, and on Sunday recorded his first win of the season. The ten-year-old, who was making his second start of the season on Sunday, toughed out a first-over trip to score in 1:54.2. The Dave Dewhurst trainee was piloted to the mild upset in the co-feature by Shawn Gray. JK Panache went off at odds of 6-1 as he recorded his 64th lifetime win. Hudson Phil (driven by Jay Randall) finished second while Maxdaddy Blue Chip (Billy Dobson) earned the show spot.
Aberforth, pictured in victory on Sunday, February 24, 2019 at Saratoga Casino Hotel
In the trotting half of the co-feature, the heavily favoured Cash Me Out (Cash Hall) was looking to become a millionaire. The Kyle Spagnola trainee had to win in order to move his career earnings to over the $1 million mark and throughout the mile, it sure appeared that that would happen. Longshot Aberforth (Frank Coppola Jr.) had other thoughts, though, and powered past the race’s favourite in the final eighth of the mile before drawing clear to score in a career-best 1:57.2. Aberforth paid $81.00 to win in the Open upset and led an exacta with Cash Me Out second that returned $164.50. The triple with Zagster (Billy Dobson) third came back $561. Aberforth, who recorded his first career win in an Open on Sunday, is trained by Vern Beachy.
Live racing at Saratoga will resume on Wednesday when a $5,000 guarantee in the Pick Five pool and a Race 5 $25,000 triple pool guarantee will highlight the wagering options on the matinee card. Those guarantees will take place on Thursday’s afternoon program as well. First post each day is 12:00 p.m.
(Saratoga Casino Hotel)