Frank Coppola, Jr. introduced trainer Dave Spagnola at Tuesday’s Saratoga Harness Hall of Fame ceremony and on Thursday night, the veteran pair teamed up for a trio of victories at Saratoga Casino Hotel.
Spagnola’s Reasinforpleasin (Conway Hall) pulled off a bit of an upset in the $9,950 feature for New York Sired trotters as the three-year-old scored in 1:59. Reasinforpleasin fanned off the cover of the race’s favourite before cruising home in the stretch to prevail at odds of 7-1.
Spagnola’s No Tears Blue Chip (Roll With Joe) and Broad Beach (Broad Bahn) each broke their maiden on Thursday in upset fashion with Coppola in the sulky, doing so at odds of 5-1 and 10-1, respectively.
No Tears Blue Chip was coming off his two best career efforts and was aggressively piloted by Coppola who guided the three-year-old pacer to a strong 1:55.1 victory to break his maiden.
Broad Beach bypassed her race’s front-running favourite en route to establishing a 2:01.4 lifetime mark. All three Spagnola trainees that scored on Thursday are owned by Mike Polansky of Loudonville, NY. Coppola enjoyed his best day of the year as he piloted six winners on the card.
Live racing continues on Friday night at Saratoga with a 6:45 p.m. first post.
(Saratoga Casino Hotel)