Halliama (Conway Hall) continued his dominance of the winners of two but not more than five class at Saratoga Casino Hotel on Wednesday afternoon. Alek Chartrand trains and drives the three year old trotter who recorded his fourth consecutive victory when competing in the $9,000 co-feature on Wednesday. Faced with racing against Lucky June Bug (Frank Coppola Jr) who came into the day on a six-race win streak, Halliama beat that one to the punch in the early going and wound up on the front-end as an even money shot in the wagering. Halliama went coast-to-coast for Chartrand in 1:57.4, a time that was fastest of the three $9,000 events for New York sired trotters on the afternoon program. Lucky June Bug wound up first over on the winner and ended up as the third-place finisher as pocket sitter Song Chapter (Jimmy Devaux) was the runner-up. For Halliama, who spent a portion of his summer competing in the Excelsior A division of the New York Sire Stakes, the win was his sixth in fourteen tries in 2019.
The other $9,000 co-features were won by Southwind Falcon (Conway Hall) and Royal Lady (Credit Winner). Southwind Falcon extended his win streak to five with a first-over score as his race’s overwhelming favorite. Ron Harp trains and drives the three year old who had little difficulty extending his streak on Wednesday as he proved a decisive winner in 1:59.1 over a track labeled ‘good’. Royal Lady closed up the passing lane before getting up in the final stride to prevail in 1:59.3 with Mark Beckwith driving for trainer Melissa Beckwith. Royal Lady was the runner-up in back-to-back tries before coming on to score on Wednesday.
Live racing continues on Thursday afternoon with a first post time set for 12 Noon.
Mike Sardella
Photo: Melissa Simser-Iovino
