ABC Muscles Boy shrugged off his tote board odds at Saratoga Casino and Raceway on Tuesday (August 18) and went on to pull off an upset in the Open Trot.
The four-year-old son of ABC Garland had finished fourth in his lone local try in the trotting feature back in June, and returned to ‘the Spa’ to make amends in Tuesday’s $18,000 Open.
The track’s leading driver, Bruce Aldrich Jr., was at ABC Muscle Boy’s lines for trainer David Russo. Aldrich sat patiently on the rail with the 11-1 outsider before finding late life in the passing lane.
ABC Muscles Boy surged up the pylons and scored in 1:55.1. He got by fellow longshot Lucid Thoughts (driven by John MacDonald), who finished second. Slugfest (Jay Randall) came on for third.
Tuesday’s win was the sixth seasonal victory for ABC Muscles Boy, who returned $24.20 to win and led an exacta and triple that paid $173 and $534, respectively.
Aldrich, who owns a big lead in the local driver standings this year, piloted four winners on the card.
Live racing will continue on Wednesday night at Saratoga. First-race post time is 7:05 p.m.
(With files from Saratoga)
