There were three $9,000 trotting events on the matinee card at Saratoga Casino Hotel on Thursday afternoon. The co-features were for New York sired trotters and Missus Mia Wallace (Credit Winner) was the fastest of the winners. Trainer Homer Hochstetler has done very well with his group of young trotters when they’ve come to town this season as the conditioner is training at close to a .500 UDRS average at Saratoga this year. On Thursday, the veteran added a pair of wins to his total as young trotter If I Must prevailed early in the card and Missus Mia Wallace completed his training double with a wire-to-wire romp in the one of the co-features. Bruce Aldrich Jr, who piloted both of Hochstetler’s Thursday winners, moved Missus Mia Wallace out to the early lead and the sophomore filly never looked back. After not facing an anxious moment in the race’s first half, Missus Mia Wallace continued to travel unopposed before completing the win in 1:57.4, her third victory on the campaign.
The other co-features were won by Youcouldbethatgirl (Credit Winner) and Pain In The Mass (Muscle Mass). Youcouldbethatgirl prevailed in her first start out of the Gary Levine stable with Billy Dobson in the sulky. The three year old filly stopped the timer in 1:59.1 in her front-running score. Pain In The Mass (Muscle Mass) drew the rail on Thursday coming off a victory in the NY Sire Stakes Excelsior B. Driver Mickey Mc Givern cut the mile with Pain In The Mass and the young filly held strong in the stretch before scoring in 1:58.2 in what was her third victory in 2018.
Live racing continues on Friday night at Saratoga with a first post time set for 6:45pm.
Mike Sardella
Photo: Melissa Simser-Iovino
