Thursday afternoon featured two divisions of the first leg of the Virginia O’Brien Memorial Pacing Series at Saratoga Casino Hotel. The series in the honor of the longtime ambassador for local harness racing began in 2015 for fillies and mares. The third annual installment of the O’Brien for five year olds and younger featured two six-horse fields. Nashurallability (Ameripan Gigolo) was the fastest of the leg one winners on Thursday as the Joe De Carlo-trained four year old went coast to coast in career best fashion. Nashurallability scored in 1:55.4 with Chris Long in the sulky in her $10,000 division of leg one. Longshot Constant Factor (Jay Randall) upset at odds of 17-1 in the other division of the O’Brien as the Maureen Salino trainee stopped the timer in 1:57.3 en route to the upset.
Live racing continues at Saratoga on Friday night with a 6:45pm first post.
Mike Sardella
Photo: Melissa Simser-Iovino
