Saratoga Casino Hotel offered a trio of $9,000 featured races for New York-sired trotters during its Wednesday afternoon (May 22) program and the favourites did not fare well.
Jackie Greene’s Grammy Winner (by Credit Winner) was the fastest of the winners. The four-year-old mare recorded a gate-to-wire win in a career-best 1:56.4. Jay Randall piloted Grammy Winner, who was coming off a start in which she was parked the mile. Grammy Winner, a five-time winner in 2018, held off a late charge from the race’s favourite Xcuseme, who closed sharply but came up short.
Grammy Winner wasn’t the only trotter to set a lifetime mark in the afternoon’s co-features, as Im TPs Crazed Bro (Crazed) recorded a mark-lowering win in 1:57.1. Brian Cross aggressively moved the Scott Mongeon trainee out to the early lead and the sophomore high-stepper held firm to register his fourth win in the ’19 campaign.
Dave Dewhurst’s four-year-old Tournament (Deweycheatumnhowe) also captured one of the featured splits. Tournament and driver Jimmy Devaux overcame a Post 8 start and went on to surge up the inside and score by the slimmest of margins. The time of the mile was 1:58.
There will be a Pick Five carryover of $8,021 at Saratoga when live racing resumes on Thursday. The Pick Five will be offered in the matinee’s first race. First post has been set for 12:00 noon.
(With files from Saratoga Casino Hotel)