Sandy Sue (Shark Gesture) joined the Jimmy Nickerson stable earlier this month and the four year old mare finished second in her first start in the Fillies and Mares Open at Saratoga Casino Hotel. In the two weeks that followed her local debut, Sandy Sue didn’t factor in the feature which led to her being assigned the rail for Thursday’s try in the $15,000 Open for distaffers. Leading driver Billy Dobson sat behind Sandy Sue who went off at odds of 7-2 in the five-horse feature and took advantage of her inside post to cut the mile on Thursday. After pacing a first half in 57 seconds, Sandy Sue felt just mild pressure from the race’s favorite Coveredndiamonds (Jay Randall) before scampering away around the final turn. Pocket-sitting Spreester (Jimmy Devaux) closed up the rail in the stretch but it was too little, too late as she ended up as the runner-up to Sandy Sue who stopped the timer in 1:53.4 for her first win in the local Open. Sandy Sue paid $9.00 to win and led an exacta with Spreester second that returned $49.80. Coveredndiamonds N had to settle for third. Defending driving champion Billy Dobson is having another huge year at Saratoga in 2019 and added three more wins to his total on Thursday’s matinee.
Live racing resumes at the Spa on Saturday night with a first post time set for 6:45pm.
Mike Sardella
Photo: Melissa Simser-Iovino
