Ahi Sunshine posted the fastest mile of the year to date at Saratoga Casino Hotel when on Saturday night the Jackie Greene trainee stopped the timer in 1:50.4 in one of the evening’s co-featured races. The six-year-old pacer who has been a fixture in the Open Pace in the last couple of months drew post six in a six horse co-featured races for pacers who are trying to accumulate points towards the Joe Gerrity Jr. Memorial Pace which will take place in late summer. The favorite in the $18,000 Invitational lagged the start significantly after making an early break which set the table a bit for the razor sharp Ahi Sunshine, a winner of back-to-back Opens in June, who came from well off the pace in a race that saw a first half go in 55 seconds. Jimmy Devaux implored Ahi Sunshine for his best after three quarters went in 1:22.3 with longshot Handlelikeaporsche (Aaron Byron) on the front-end. Pocket-sitter Boston Rocks (Jacob Cutting) took his shot in the stretch but Ahi Sunshine’s late surge proved too much for the competition as the speedy pacer came on to win in 1:50.4 to mark the fastest time in the 2026 season at the Spa. Boston Rocks got up to be second while Handlelikeaporsche held on to finish third.
The other $18,000 Invitational contested on Saturday went the way of Prairie Rocknroll who has been a fixture in the Open for the past two months, winning the pacing feature twice and heading into Saturday’s tilt as the even-money favorite. Billy Dobson moved the Kyle Spagnola-trained pacer to the early lead and they never looked back going coast-to-coast in 1:51.3 to secure the victory in the co-feature.
Live racing resumes on Monday afternoon at Saratoga with a matinee that begins at 12pm.
Mike Sardella | Saratoga Casino Hotel | Saratoga Springs, NY
Jessica Hallett photo
