Gramster (Yankee Glide) won the $9,000 feature for trotters on Thursday afternoon at Saratoga Casino Hotel. The Jordan Derue trainee set a lifetime mark two starts back when he swooped the group from post eight to upset at odds of 34-1. Following that career-best 1:57 romp, Gramster threw a clunker the following week while on the front end. On Thursday, leading driver Billy Dobson sat behind the five year old trotter who was the favorite in the race for winners of two but not more than five races lifetime and got away third in the early going. Things weren’t looking good for Gramster who stayed inside and got shuffled a bit after a half mile clocked in 59 seconds. Pappagiorgrio (Dan Cappello Jr) was carving out the fractions and appeared strong after going past three quarters in 1:28.2. Gramster then shook loose around the final turn and came surging late to win in 1:58.2 for Dobson. Pappagiorgio finished second while Chili (Brett Crawford) earned the show spot. Gramster is set to compete once again in the claiming ranks on Sunday afternoon as he looks to go three for his last four.
Live racing continues at the Spa on Friday evening with a 6:45pm first post.
Mike Sardella
Photo: Melissa Simser-Iovino
