John Stark Jr’s Xcuseme (RC Royalty) will head into next week’s final of the John Mongeon Memorial Trotting Series as the big favorite. The three year old trotter cruised to his fourth consecutive victory on Wednesday’s matinee card going back-to-back in the two legs of the series and staying undefeated in 2019. Xcuseme made pretty easy work of his competition as he coasted to a wire-to-wire victory in 1:58.1, the fastest time of the leg two winners.
While Xcuseme was the most decisive of the leg two winners in the Mongeon Trot, he wasn’t the only repeat victor. Living Proof I Am (Prayer I Am) also went back-to-back in the series’ legs as he got up in the final strides on Wednesday to score in 1:58.3, matching his win time from last week which was a career best. Phil Fluet piloted the Andy Byler trainee to both of his series’ scores. The other division of the second leg was won by Pumping Irony (Muscle Mass). The Eve Bergeron-trained trotter cruised to victory as the public’s 1-5 betting favorite on Wednesday with Steve Genois in the sulky. A runner-up to Living Proof I Am in leg one, Pumping Irony recorded a convincing romp in 1:59 to punch her ticket to next week’s final which will go for a purse of more than $30,000.
Live racing continues on Thursday afternoon at Saratoga with a first post time set for 12:00 Noon.
Mike Sardella
Photo: Melissa Simser-Iovino
