The Conway Hall trotter Reasinforpleasin prevailed in the $9,630 co-feature at Saratoga Casino Hotel on Thursday afternoon, stopping the teletimer in 1:59.1 for driver Frank Coppola, Jr.
The Dave Spagnola-trained trotter followed up a solid two-year-old campaign with a strong three-year-old season in 2016 despite being lightly raced.
Reasinforpleasin scored four wins in nine starts in ’16 and secured his first victory of the year on Thursday in a race for New York sired trotters.
The Spagnola trainee got away third in the early going came first over with the public’s 1-2 betting favourite. Reasinforpleasin wore down the front-running Thanks For Playin (Dan Cappello, Jr.) before stopping the timer in 1:59.1. Thanks For Playin held second while longshot Wygant Angel (Alek Chartrand) earned the show spot.
Trainer John Podres’ Red Cash (Cash Hall) set a lifetime mark in the other half of the co-feature on Thursday behind a three-wide score that came in a career best 1:58.3 with Mark Whitcroft in the sulky.
Live racing continues on Friday night with a 6:45 p.m. first post.
(Saratoga Casino Hotel)