Her Own Land had rattled off three consecutive victories at Saratoga Casino Hotel before entering the Fillies and Mares Open Handicap for the first time in April. The Melissa Beckwith trainee was then the favourite in three consecutive tries in the $13,000 Friday feature, but came up second-best all three times.
This Friday night (May 5), Mark Beckwith sat back early on with the six-year-old Blissfull Hall mare, who was patient in the early going while the fractions were sizzling up front. Following an opening quarter of :26.3 and half in 55 seconds, Her Own Land made a methodical march up on the outside before kicking into full gear around the final turn. The distaffer moved her career earnings to nearly $260,000 as she came on to win by a neck in 1:52.4 over the "good" track for a new seasonal best. Betabcool N (Bruce Aldrich Jr.) was the race’s favourite and came up second-best on Friday night while Milky Way Rae (Billy Dobson) earned the show spot.
After being favoured in each of her previous three tries in the feature, Her Own Land paid $8.60 to win and was on top of an exacta and triple that came back $23.60 and $64.50.
Her Own Land is owned by James Romer of Yorktown Heights, New York.
Live racing continues on Saturday night with a 6:45pm first post.
(With files from Saratoga Casino Hotel)