A pair of $10,700 events for New York sired trotters served as co-features on the Wednesday card at Saratoga Casino Hotel. Meg Reynolds’ Kapow (Conway Hall) was the fastest among the winners of the featured raced as pilot Phil Fluet situated the six year old into the pocket in the early going and parlayed that trip to victory. Kapow came into the race with only one win on the season but starting from an improved post on Wednesday was situated well for the stretch drive and wound up riding the coattails of the race’s favorite Song Chapter (Billy Dobson) every step of the way. Kapow popped the pocket in the stretch and reeled in the public’s 6-5 top choice before drawing away late to win in 2:00. Paying $5.90 to win, Kapow bested Song Chapter, who continued her trend of finishing second or third on a nearly weekly basis, and longshot Southwind Rich (Chris Long), who earned the show spot.
The other co-feature was won by Leap Year Lucky who went wire-to-wire with Jimmy Devaux driving for trainer Lisa Zabielski. The race served as class relief for the three year old gelding who was overmatched in the two legs of the recently concluded Jim Derue Memorial Trotting Series. Dismissed at odds of 5-1 on Wednesday, Leap Year Lucky held off the late charge from rival Match My Miracle (Brian Cross) to hang on in 2:00.3 to record the third win in his 2019 campaign. Match My Miracle came up second-best while the race’ s favorite Royal Casanova (Frank Coppola Jr) finished third.
Live racing continues on Thursday afternoon with a first post time set for 12 Noon. Race one will feature a $2,500 guarantee in the Pick Five pool. The Pick Five is a fifty cent minimum wager.
Mike Sardella
Photo: Melissa Simser-Iovino
