Deetzy dropped and popped on Monday afternoon to give the meet’s leading driver at Saratoga Casino Hotel one of his four winners on the card.
Billy Dobson has been the dominant driving force at the Spa for over a decade and on Monday, the 36-year-old scored a Grand Slam. With a couple of Saratoga’s regulars off their drives for the matinee, Dobson picked up some extras assignments.
One of the drives he picked up was behind Deetzy for trainer Jimmy Nickerson. Deetzy has been a participant of the Open Pace for the last few seasons and dropped from that level on Monday into a $5,750 conditional race.
The eight-year-old veteran got a pocket trip behind a fellow class-dropper and shook loose around the final turn as duelling leaders slugged it out. Deetzy powered past his rivals in the stretch before stopping the timer in 1:54.3 to record his second victory of the season.
The win was one of four on the day for Dobson who scored mild upsets behind trotters Amazing Sevens for trainer Margaret Spagnola, who had three winners on the card, and Storming Mist, who prevailed in his first career Spa start. The meet’s leading reinsman also guided young trotter Standing Man to a Monday score to keep the three-year-old Andy Sardella trainee undefeated in his young career.
Live racing takes place on Tuesday afternoon at Saratoga with a 12 p.m. post time. There will be no Wednesday evening racing this week.
(Saratoga Casino Hotel)