Titus Seelster (Artistic Fella) won the Open Pace for the third time in as many tries on Saturday night at Saratoga Casino Hotel. The Jackie Greene-trained pacer rattled off back to back jacks in the Open in late May before a brief stint out of town. Frank Coppola Jr. piloted the six year old gelding who in Saturday’s feature was content to sit the pocket behind rival Givenupdreaming (Billy Dobson). The race’s favorite Long Live Rock (Wally Hennessey) was flying late and powered past Givenupdreaming before Titus Seelster shook loose up the inside to win it all. The seventh victory of the season for Titus Seelster came in a career best-matching 1:51.1. Long Live Rock was the runner up while Givenupdreaming held on for third in the $13,000 Open. It was the third win in the local Open Pace for Titus Seelster this year and it was the seventh time this season that conditioner Jackie Greene secured a win in the Open Pace (three times with defending Pacer of the Year Artful Way.) Titus Seelster paid $8.10 to win on Saturday and started an exacta and triple that came back $20 and $31.80, respectively, in the six horse feature. Greene and Coppola also scored in the $12,500 Winners Over on Saturday securing an upset victory with Memory Game (Artiscape).
Live racing continues on Sunday afternoon with a matinee beginning at 12:15pm.
Mike Sardella
Photo: Melissa Simser-Iovino
