Continuing what has been a tremendous month of September for him, driver Jimmy Devaux piloted winners in both halves of the co-featured trotting races on Thursday’s card at Saratoga Casino Hotel.
The Dave Dewhurst-trained New York Chrome (Deweycheatumnhowe) prevailed in the $10,250 local feature for New York-sired trotters two weeks ago and returned to town on Thursday following a second consecutive victory which came in the Excelsior series at Batavia Downs. Devaux came from well off the pace with New York Chrome as the three-year-old trotter cruised past his rivals to prevail in 1:58 on Thursday.
The victory was the eighth on the year for the sophomore, who spent a large portion of his summer competing in Exclesiors and in the fair circuit as part of the NY Sire Stakes.
Devaux swept the co-features as he went coast-to-coast with the Dave Spagnola trainee Congo King (Conway Hall) for the second straight week. The five-year-old trotter, who was winless in 2017 before scoring in career-best fashion last week for Devaux, completed back-to-back jacks with a 1:58.4 score on Thursday.
Devaux, who has been dominant of late, is now just 21 victories away from the 5,000 career win plateau.
Live harness racing continues on Friday night at Saratoga with a 6:45 p.m. first post.
(with files from Saratoga)