Saratoga Springs, NY – The Royal Harry (RC Royalty) completed the sweep of the Holiday Trotting Series on Wednesday (Dec. 12) afternoon. The former Hambletonian participant didn’t have his best year in 2018 and thus qualified to compete in the Holiday Trot, which began last month.

The Royal Harry captured the Holiday Trot Final in Saratoga Wednesday. Melissa Simser-Iovino photo.

Returning to the stable of trainer Andy Sardella, The Royal Harry went coast-to-coast in both legs of the $7,500 per Holiday Trot and headed into Wednesday’s final as the one to beat. The Royal Harry surged out to the early lead, which is his normal method, but was aided by an early break by Sweet Royalty, the public’s even money-favorite in the race. The Royal Harry sealed the deal by reporting home in 1:56.3 to complete the sweep.

JS Trotting Bob (Phil Fluet) was a leg-one winner and leg-two runner-up and finished second in the $20,000 Final while longshot CC Bank (Jay Randall) earned the show spot.

The Royal Harry’s fourth win of the year set a new seasonal mark and resulted in him adding his name to the list of previous Holiday Trot winners comprised of Under The Stars and Wrightwood, both of whom were driven to their victories by Phil Fluet. The Royal Harry was piloted to his trio of series’ wins by leading driver Billy Dobson. The series’ champ paid $4.40 to win and led an exacta and triple that returned $25.60 and $250.50, respectively.

The $10,000 Holiday Trot Consolation went to Wicked Nick. Brett Crawford trains and drives the 4-year-old, who raced parked the mile, then overpowered the competition in the final half before drawing away to win by 8-1/2 lengths in 2:00.

Wicked Nick was the 7-5 betting favorite in the Holiday Trot Consolation.

Live racing continues on Thursday (Dec. 13) afternoon with a matinee beginning at 12:15 p.m.