Artful Way prevailed in Saturday’s feature at Saratoga Casino Hotel. The Jackie Greene trainee was the 2016 Pacer of the Year at the Spa and headed into Saturday’s Open Pace off a fast second place finish in his second start of the season. Again starting from the outside post in the $12,000 Open, Artful Way flashed early speed and carried on to the front end for driver Frank Coppola Jr. The five year old pacer does his best work on the lead and was true to that trend on Saturday night as he held tough in the stretch before stopping the timer in 1:53.3 for his first win of the campaign. Deetzy (Stephane Bouchard) closed sharply for second while longshot Chantepleure (Jim Devaux) earned the show spot. Artful Way was the 2-1 second choice in the wagering and led an exacta and triple that paid $27 and $198, respectively. Owned by the Kellogg Racing Stables, Artful Way now has 21 wins in 71 career starts and has amassed more than $236,000 in lifetime earnings. His win was one of two on the night for conditioner Jackie Greene.
Live racing continues on Sunday afternoon at Saratoga with a matinee that kicks off at 12:15pm.
Mike Sardella
Photo: Melissa Simser-Iovino
