Artful Way (Artistic Fella) did on Saturday night what Artful Way does as the Jackie Greene trainee scored an Open Pace win at Saratoga Casino Hotel. The track’s defending Pacer of the Year went coast to coast in Saturday’s $18,000 feature and never suffered an anxious moment. Coming in off a victory in the Plainridge Open earlier in the week, Artful Way utilized his early speed to make it to the top with relative ease. After getting a first half in 56.2, he had plenty left for the back-half and cruised to the win in 1:52.1 with Frank Coppola Jr. in the sulky. Longshot Wynberg Courage N (Bruce Aldrich Jr) was the runner-up as the 28-1 shot got the pocket ride and held on to earn the place spot on Saturday while fellow invader Maxdaddy Blue Chip (Billy Dobson) came on to finish third. Though Artful Way was the race’s odds-on favorite, the exacta and triple in the Open paid well. The exacta returned $42.40 while the triple came back $271 in the seven-horse feature. Artful Way joined stablemate Titus Seelster as four-time winners of the Open Pace at the Spa this season. Both standouts are owned by the Kellogg Racing Stables of Queensbury, NY. Artful Way’s connections also had the winner of Wednesday night’s Fillies and Mares Open as Stylsh Beachwhere scored the victory in a local feature for the second time in three tries.
Live racing resumes on Tuesday night at Saratoga with a first post time of 7:05pm.
Mike Sardella
Photo: Melissa Simser-Iovino
