by Mike Sardella, for Saratoga
Saratoga, NY — For the second consecutive night, driver Bruce Aldrich Jr. and trainer Jose Godinez teamed up for the winner of the feature at Saratoga Casino Hotel. After recording a win in Friday’s feature for fillies and mares, the Aldrich-Godinez tandem prevailed with Ru Ready To Rock (Rocknroll Hanover) in Saturday’s (Nov. 26) $18,000 Open Pace.
Melissa Simser-Iovino photo
Ru Ready To Rock upsets the Saratoga pacing feature at odds of 11-1 on Saturday night.
The 8-year old pacer, who had been the runner-up in each of his last two tries in the Saratoga Open, started from post three in Saturday’s installment of the feature and wound up picking up cover in a race that was primed for closers to thrive. With first half fractions of :26.4 and :55.3 setting the table for the closers, Ru Ready To Rock tipped off his cover turning for home in what wound up being a blanket finish. All eight horses finished within two lengths of each other with the top four finishers only separated by a total of a neck.
Ru Ready To Rock pulled off the upset at odds of 11-1 and bested Macherati (Mark Beckwith) and Ronny Bugatti (Jim Devaux) who ran second and third. Ru Ready To Rock stopped the timer in 1:52.3 while recording his first Open win of the season at the Spa. The exacta and triple in the wide-open feature paid $123 and $711.
Ru Ready To Rock is owned by Anthony Nicometo and the Blindswitch Racing Stable of New York, whose Dilly Dali scored in the $10,060 Friday feature for distaffers.
Live racing continues on Sunday afternoon (Nov. 27) at Saratoga with a matinee beginning at 12:15 p.m.