Lady Shadow (Shadow Play) brought her $2 million+ in lifetime earnings into Friday night’s Fillies and Mares Open at Saratoga Casino Hotel. The Melissa Beckwith trainee finished first or second in three consecutive installments of the lady’s feature heading into Friday night’s try in the $14,500 Open. Lady Shadow powered aggressively out from her assigned outside post with Mark Beckwith in the bike and didn’t stop until she reached the top. After posting a first quarter of 27.1, the veteran distaffer took them through a half in 56 seconds. The race’s favorite Spreester (Frank Coppola Jr) rushed up first-over to challenge for the lead but was rebuffed by the career winner of $2 million. Bye Bye Michelle (Jimmy Devaux) was searching for a seam late and came up shy by a head while Tempus Seelster (Billy Dobson) earned the show spot in the mile clocked in 1:53. Lady Shadow, who won for the third time of the season and second in five starts in the local Open, paid $6.40 to win and led an exacta and triple that came back $28.20 and $137.50, respectively. The race card was cut short after the seventh race due to a power outage at the track.
Live racing continues on Saturday night at Saratoga with a first post time of 6:45pm.
Mike Sardella
Photo: Melissa Simser-Iovino
