Clover has been on a tear of late at Saratoga Casino Hotel and the Mark Beckwith-trained mare made her debut in the Fillies and Mares Open Handicap Pace a winning one on Monday, May 20.
Wally Hennessey has piloted Clover, a six-year-old mare by Sportswriter, to two of her three consecutive victories heading into her Open debut on Monday. Hennessey was aggressive with the red-hot distaffer in the early portion of $20,548 feature as Clover showed early speed to make the front in a sizzling first quarter of :26.3 before yielding to a rival who took them to the half in :55.3. Hennessey didn’t waste much time evacuating the pocket when the leader appeared to be tiring and Clover pounced on that one before drawing out to a decisive lead. Clover wound up drawing away from the field in the stretch before stopping the timer in 1:53.4 for her sixth win of the season from 14 starts and fourth in a row. A 34-1 shot, Shes So Sweet (Chris Long), also made her Open debut on Monday and came on to finish second while Racy Roxy A (Jay Randall) earned the show spot.
Clover, who is owned by Howard Jacobs of West Orange, New Jersey, went off as the public’s 3-5 betting favourite and led an exacta and triple that paid $148 and $535, respectively.
Hennessey rattled off three consecutive wins later on the Monday card to give the Hall of Fame reinsman a driving grand slam.
Live harness racing resumes on Saturday evening at Saratoga. There will be a Pick 5 carryover of $3,351 with the wager beginning in the first race. First post time Saturday is set for 5 p.m.
(With files from Saratoga Casino Hotel)