Royal Heart (Royal Art) gave his connections an Open win for the second consecutive night at Saratoga Casino Hotel. The five year old pacer scored on the front end in Saturday’s $18,000 Open Pace with Bruce Aldrich Jr driving for trainer Jose Godinez. Royal Heart was taking a big step up in company off a win last week as he was aggressively moved to the early lead in fast first half fractions of 26.4 and 55.3. Royal Heart looked none the worse for the wear in the stretch and had enough left to draw away from his rivals to record his second consecutive win and seventh on the season. The race’s 8-5 betting favorite stopped the timer in 1:51.4 in the feature, matching the seasonal mark he set at Monticello earlier in the year. Artful Way (Frank Coppola Jr) sat the pocket to the winner and wound up as the runner up on Saturday night while Yonkers invader Border Control A (Jim Devaux) came on to finish third. Royal Heart’s connections won the Friday feature at the Spa with Glenferrie Bronte N who scored her first victory in the local Fillies and Mares Open. Both Open winners are owned by the Blindswitch Racing Stable of Cortlandt Manor, NY and the Dolne Farm Services of Indianapolis, IN.
Live racing continues on Sunday afternoon with a 12:15pm start to the matinee.
Mike Sardella
Photo: Melissa Simser-Iovino
