Winter Mint (Credit Winner) was the fastest among the winners of the $11,000 co-features at Saratoga Casino Hotel on the Thursday afternoon program. The Perry Simser trainee was the public’s 1-2 betting favorite in his division of the three co-features for New York sired trotters. Frank Coppola Jr. piloted Winter Mint and kept that one close to the action early on before cutting him loose first over. The four year old trotted away to prevail in 1:58.2, the fastest win time of the three co-features. Winter Mint’s victory was the second in his last four starts and second of the season.
While Winter Mint was a big favorite on Thursday, Lasa Dida Lady (Deweycheatumnhowe) was a big longshot when she went last to first to pull off the upset at 21-1. John Stark Jr. trains and drives Lasa Dida Lady who swooped the group, taking advantage of some traffic trouble for the race’s favorite en route to recording her eighth win of the season. She stopped the timer in 2:00.2 in the Thursday co-feature score. Stark had the runners-up in the other two $11,000 trotting events on the card with his Miss Muscle and Jeter’s Way finishing second-best.
Cherry Peep (Conway Hall) parlayed her pocket ride to victory in the final of three co-features on the day as the Amy Dowd trainee sat patiently throughout before pouncing in the stretch and stopping the timer in 1:59.1 with Jay Randall in the sulky. Cherry Peep’s win was her first in three starts since moving to the Dowd stable. She bested Jeter’s Way en route to her fifth victory of 2018.
Live racing continues on Friday at Saratoga with a 6:45pm first post.
Mike Sardella
Photo: Melissa SImser-Iovino
