Little Santamonica (Little Steven) scored a wire-to-wire win in the Friday feature at Saratoga Casino Hotel. The veteran nine year old loves the lead and driver Jimmy Devaux made sure to get her there in the $18,000 Fillies and Mares Open. Co-favored at odds of 8-5, Little Santamonica never endured an anxious moment and despite first half fractions of 27 and 55.3, drew away to win by almost five lengths in 1:52.2. The victory was the twelfth on the season for the Jordan Hope-trained distaffer who has thrived at Saratoga when coming to town to compete over the past few years. It was the fourth win in the local Open this year for the classy mare joining So Nice (Ponder) as the only two lady pacers to prevail in as many as four Opens in 2017. Brown Brinny (Bruce Aldrich Jr) finished second in her debut in the local feature while longshot West Liberty (Chris Long) came on for third. Little Santamonica paid $5.20 to win and led an exacta and triple that came back $16.80 and $82, respectively.
Live racing continues on Saturday night at Saratoga with a first post time set for 6:45pm.
Mike Sardella
Photo: Melissa Simser-Iovino
