Artful Way became the first horse to record his fifth win of the year in the Saturday feature at Saratoga Casino Hotel as he came from off the pace to register his most recent victory.
Frank Coppola Jr. had thoughts of leaving with Artful Way, but had to back off as the six-horse feature had too much early speed for him. Artful Way sat patiently as two rivals slugged it out in first half fractions of :26.3 and :53.4 before Coppola made his move. The Jackie Rousse trainee fanned three-wide around the final turn and hit the wire first in 1:52.2. The race’s odds-on favourite. Givenupdreaming (Stephane Bouchard), followed Artful Way throughout, but couldn’t get by him in the stretch having to settle for second. Sassy Hanover (Billy Dobson), who raced parked the mile as part of the early speed duel, held strong for third.
For Artful Way, who returned $10 to win, it was victory number six on the year and his fifth in the $15,000 Open Pace. Givenupdreaming, who came into the Saturday tilt as a winner of five of his last seven races, secured his second second-place finish of year. The exacta in the Open paid $10.20 while the triple came back $31.
The winning four-year-old son Artistic Fella is owned by Kellogg Racing Stables.
Live racing resumes on Tuesday night at Saratoga with two-year-old trotting colts featured as part of the New York Sire Stakes. First post time is set for 7:05 p.m.
(With files from Saratoga)