Saratoga Springs, NY – Lazzaro (Explosive Matter) has had his breakout season in 2021 at Saratoga Casino Hotel and on Monday (Aug. 16) the five-year-old trotter won the Open for the first time in his career.

The Monica Krist-trained Lazzaro put together an impressive win streak early on in the campaign before moving up into Open company at the Spa. The trotter, who is owned by Rick Dobson of Howell, MI, went through a brief funk at the beginning of the summer but righted the ship with a career-best score at Tioga Downs in July when he won in 1:55.4 over the 5/8 mile track in the Southern Tier of New York.

Lazzaro used a first-over trip to win the Open Trot feature this afternoon at Saratoga Casino Hotel. Melissa Simser-Iovino photo.

Upon winning in his return to the Spa the following week, Lazzaro wound up back in the Open and finished third against the top trotters on August 2. After making a break in last week’s installment of the Open, Lazzaro went off at odds of 7-2 this afternoon when he wound up getting a first-over trip with Billy Dobson in the sulky.

The five-year-old spent about 5/8 of the mile on the outside before finally putting away Bridge Works (Jimmy Devaux) who had won the last two Opens at the Spa. Millionaire trotter Cash Me Out (Phil Fluet) sat the pocket to Bridge Works before getting by him in the stretch to finish second to Lazzaro who stopped the timer in a career-best 1:55.4.

The win in the $14,000 feature was the first in the Open Trot in the career of Lazzaro whose victory was his eleventh on the season. Paying $9.00 to win, Lazzaro led an exacta with Cash Me Out second that returned $31.60. The triple, completed by Bridge Works, paid $95.00.

Live racing continues on Tuesday (Aug. 17) afternoon with a matinee beginning at noon.