Talking Tom won the Open Pace at Saratoga Casino Hotel for the first time in September of last year. The Perry Simser trainee has returned to the Open this summer and enjoyed some success. Highlighted by a second-place finish while competing against the track’s top pacers, Talking Tom hit the board a handful of times this summer before heading into Saturday evening’s try in the $18,200 featured race.
Driver Chris Long asked Talking Tom for early speed and got him to the front in a :27.1 first quarter. The six-year-old Artspeak gelding got a bit of a breather but reached the half in an honest :56.4 before being confronted by last week’s Open runner-up Soul Assassin (Mitch Cushing), who came first-over on the Simser trainee. Those two squared off for close to a half-mile before Talking Tom put that rival away and held strong to score in 1:53.1.
The second Open win in the career of Talking Tom came while he was dismissed at odds of 5-1. Soul Assassin came up second-best for the second consecutive week while Black Hawk Joe A (Matt Athearn) earned the show spot.
Talking Tom, who is co-owned by his trainer Perry Simser along with Dennis Nye, paid $12.80 to win and led an exacta and triple that returned $42.80 and $215.50, respectively.
The win time of 1:53.1 set a new seasonal mark for Talking Tom and was just a tick off his lifetime best win time of 1:53.
Live harness racing continues on Sunday evening at Saratoga with a 13-race program set to begin at 6:45 p.m.
(With files from Saratoga Casino Hotel)