14-year-old veteran Dinner Guest wins at Saratoga today

Saratoga Springs, NY – Veteran pacer Dinner Guest (No Pan Intended) did something on Wednesday afternoon (Oct 9) at Saratoga Casino Hotel that is very rare in harness racing. Normally, parlaying a pocket trip to victory after drawing the rail in a low-level condition race wouldn’t be anything of note but, Dinner Guest is fourteen-years-old.

An award winner in 2018 as top Claiming Pacer of the Year at the Spa, the Frank Multari-trained veteran earned his first victory of the season on Wednesday as he came on to prevail in 1:55.4. Dinner Guest enjoyed a nine-win campaign last year but mustered up only a couple of second-place finishes as well as five thirds in a win-less 2019 season before shaking loose late on Wednesday to score in 1:55.4.

The 14-year-old classy veteran Dinner Guest gets his first win in 2019. Melissa Simser-Iovino Photo.

Veteran driver Dan Cappello Jr. sat behind the fourteen-year-old who went over the $730,000 mark in lifetime earnings with the win. It is rare enough for any horse to still be racing at the age of fourteen, the maximum age for a Standardbred to compete in a pari-mutuel event, but to still have enough in the tank to register a victory is certainly uncommon and impressive. The win was career number 76 for the classy veteran who is wrapping up a sensational dozen years of racing.

Live racing continues on Thursday afternoon (Oct 10) with first post time set for Noon. There is a $5,000 guaranteed Pick-Five pool on Thursday as the Saratoga Harness Horseperson’s Association has teamed up with Saratoga Casino Hotel to offer the guarantee. The Pick-Five, which begins in race one, is a fifty cent minimum wager.

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