Freehold, NJ — On Saturday (April 3) Joe Faraldo and Always Good Time rallied and then held off a hard-charging Masster Blue and driver Tony Verruso to win the $9,000 American Harness Drivers Club (AHDC) trot in 1:59.2 at Freehold Raceway.

Lightly regarded and sent away at odds of over 21-1 Always A Good Time paid $44.60 for win.

“Despite the odds I thought we had a good chance to win even though we were the second longest shot in the race,” said Faraldo. “It’s a good thing my horse couldn’t read the tote board.”

After the starter released the field one of the favorites Southwind Frost (Bob Hechkoff) went off-stride as did DaBoogie Man (Tony Ciufettteli) but the betting favorite, Ooh Rah (John Calbrese), who started from post position seven, trotted to the front and led the field by the first stanza in :28.3.

Once on top Calabrese kept the pedal to the metal and they showed the way by the half in :58.3

Faraldo was the first to move and once on the limb his trotter chugged forward. They finally ranged alongside the pace-setter at the three-quarters as the timer flashed 1:29.1

“When we rounded the final turn and headed for home I had a couple of lengths on Verruso,” Faraldo said “But that lead began to diminish and when we hit the wire we were noses apart and it was hard to tell who the winner was. But the photo showed that we (Always a Good Time) held on by a nose.”

It was Faraldo’s 153rd career driving victory.

Always A Good Time is owned by the Triple D Stable and trained by Scott Di Domenico.