Always Watching became the first distaffer to win the Fillies and Mares Open Pace four times this season at Saratoga Casino Hotel when the track's defending Horse of the Year went coast-to-coast in the Monday, June 3 feature.
Jordan Derue owns, trains and drives Always Watching, who was the public’s 3-5 betting favourite in the Monday installment of the $20,548 Open Handicap for the ladies and wasted no time putting his stable’s star on the front-end, a spot she would remain throughout the entirety of the 1:53.4 mile. The win time set a new seasonal mark for the six-year-old Hes Watching mare, now a career winner of 30 races. Millionairess Racine Bell (Jimmy Devaux) closed late to finish second to the favourite while Magical Maya A (Larry Stalbaum) earned the show spot.
Derue went back-to-back on the Monday card when he followed up his score in the feature with a victory with claiming pacing mare Shallow, who led wire-to-wire in 1:56.1 for her first win of the season.
Live harness racing will take place on Friday evening with a 5 p.m. first post time (a race card that will take the place of the regular Sunday matinee this week.)
(With files from Saratoga Casino Hotel)