Obrigado was clearly in prime form Saturday at Tioga Downs as he beat the best trotters that track had to offer in the $11,000 Open Handicap Trot.
Obrigado (Rene Sejthen) was bet as the second choice to Barn Bella (Claude Huckabone). Obrigado led the field through fractions of :27.3, :56.3 and 1:25 before kicking home in :28.3 to win in 1:53.3. He was pressured all the way down the backstretch and the final turn by the betting favourite Barn Bella (Claude Huckabone, Jr.) before Prairie Fortune (Jim Meittinis) took a run at him in the stretch. Prairie Fortune wound up being second best, while Barn Bella gutted it out to finish third.
Obrigado is an eight-year-old gelding by Boy Band. Owned by trainer Paul Kelley as well as SRF Stable, L Higgins and Stable 45. It was his first win in two years and career victory number 43. He has won almost 1.8 million dollars in his career. He paid $5.20 to win.
Truth And Liberty (Mike Simons) fires late to capture Fillies and Mares Open Handicap ($12,000).
Roll With Sparky led the group to the first quarter in :27.1 and the half in :56.1. K Js Caroline (Mike Merton) then took a short lead before hitting three-quarters in 1:23.4.
Truth And Liberty ($5.20), who is owned by Fairy Horsemother Stables and trained by Simons, went three wide at the top of the stretch and blew right by to win in 1:52.3. MC Attagirl (Fern Paquet, Jr.) came up late to finish second. K Js Caroline settled for third.
Truth And Liberty is a six-year-old mare by Total Truth. It was her third win in 2018. She now has 31 lifetime victories.
Live racing returns to Tioga Downs on Sunday with a 13-race card starting at 1 p.m.
(Tioga Downs)