Artful Way (Artistic Fella) continued his sensational campaign in Saturday’s feature at Saratoga Casino Hotel. The defending Pacer of the Year at the Spa, Artful Way put the swoop to the group in the $18,000 Open Pace for the second consecutive weekend. The Jackie Greene trainee again got away last in the seven-horse feature and sat patiently as track record holder Dancin Yankee (Mark Beckwith) battled it out with co-favored Deetzy (Billy Dobson). Those two checked in together to three quarters in 1:23.2. All the while, Frank Coppola Jr. was about to make his move with Artful Way who is actually having a better year already than he did in his award winning 2016 campaign. Coming from last at the half when he was still nine lengths off the lead, Artful Way powered past the dueling rivals to win in 1:52.2. Dancin Yankee was the runner-up in the Open for the second consecutive week while Deetzy earned the show spot, hitting the board for the third straight week in Saturday feature. Artful Way was co-favored at odds of 8-5 and led an exacta and triple that paid $17 and $24.40, respectively.
Live racing continues on Sunday afternoon at Saratoga with a matinee set to begin at 12:15pm. There is a Monday matinee scheduled as well with the Columbus Day program also starting at 12:15pm.
Mike Sardella
Photo: Melissa Simser-Iovino