Deetzy (Jereme’s Jet) got caught in a humdinger last week at Saratoga Casino Hotel. The Jim Nickerson trainee got parked in the $14,500 Open Pace in near track record fashion for the first half. After being hung out by rival Panocchio (Gerry Mattison) in first lap fractions of 26.2 and 53.4, Deetzy wound up fading late in the mile. This week, the six year old drew post position four in the feature and blasted out to a much easier lead. With Phil Fluet in the sulky, Deetzy went coast to coast to prevail in 1:53 in Saturday night’s installment of the Open holding off, coincidentally, last week’s fellow jouster Panocchio who finished second. Longshot Real Kid (Brett Crawford) earned the show spot in his first try at the local Open. Deetzy went off as the betting public’s 9-5 second choice and led an exacta and triple that paid $19.20 and $155.50, respectively. The win was the fourth on the season for Deetzy whose victory was his second in the Open in 2018. Deetzy’s trainer Jim Nickerson also won the Friday night Open as his Tempus Seelster went wire-to-wire in the feature for fillies and mares.
Live racing continues on Sunday afternoon at Saratoga with a matinee beginning at 12:15pm.
Mike Sardella
Photo: Melissa Simser-Iovino
