Seventimesavirgin made her local debut a winning one on Friday night while competing in the Fillies and Mares Open at Saratoga Casino Hotel.
A superstar in her “younger” years, Seventimesavirgin earned just shy of a half-million dollars in her two and three-year-old campaigns. Now five, the Always A Virgin mare came to the Spa for the first time on Friday to compete in the evening’s $16,000 feature for trainer Jimmy Nickerson.
Billy Dobson got the driving assignment and the meet’s leading driver sat patiently in last with the mare who was backed by the bettors to the tune of odds of 1-5 in the five-horse feature. After the first half was paced in :56.2, Seventimesavirgin began to move from last, flushing out the cover of Spreester (Frank Coppola Jr.). Spreester moved first-over and powered past the leader, grinding that one into submission at the head at the stretch. Seventimesavirgin tipped off her cover in the stretch and got up in time to edge Spreester for the win, a victory that was clocked in 1:53.3. Spreester was the runner-up in the Open for the second consecutive Friday night while last week’s winner Happy Heart (Mark Beckwith) came on to earn the show spot.
For Seventimesavirgin, it was victory number five on the season and an incredible 28th in 59 lifetime starts. The homebred mare is owned by Jesse J. De Long.
Live racing continues at Saratoga on Saturday night with a first post time of 6:45pm.
(With files from Saratoga Casino Hotel)