JK Panache scored his first Open victory of the season on Saturday night (April 9) at Saratoga Casino and Raceway.
The Dave Dewhurst-trained pacer recorded six wins in the local Open in 2015, but started out this season competing in sub-Open classes.
JK Panache wound up first over in Saturday's $15,000 Open and battled front-running Spinarama (Austin Siegelman) for better than a half-mile before putting that one away in the stretch. The win for JK Panache came in 1:59.2 in the 1-1/16 mile feature. Caution Signs (Bruce Aldrich Jr.) closed up the rail for second while Spinarama earned the show spot.
JK Panache returned $5.70 to win and led an exacta and triple that paid $21.80 and $69.50, respectively.
The seven-year-old son of Art Major was driven to the Open win by Shawn Gray for Dewhurst and co-owner Philip Hale.
(With files from Saratoga Raceway)