by Mike Sardella, for Saratoga Casino Hotel
Saratoga, NY — Thursday (April 26) featured the second leg of the John Mongeon Sr. Memorial Trotting Series at Saratoga Casino Hotel. There were three divisions of the second leg of the series which will conclude next Thursday with a $32,700 final. John Stark Jr.’s Miss Muscle (Muscle Mass) picked a good time to put in a career-best effort as she prevailed first-over in her $10,000 division of the series’ second leg.
Miss Muscle trotted to victory in 1:59.4 for Stark who’s Lasa Dida Lady (Deweycheatumnhowe) was a beaten favorite in the first division of the series on Thursday. She came up second-best to Got It Good (Triumphant Caviar) who set a lifetime mark winning in 2:00.
Though Lasa Dida Lady didn’t prevail, her second place finish may be enough to punch her ticket to next week’s final. The series’ last division of the day went the way of Spoiler Alert (Chapter Seven) who was the most convincing winner of the afternoon and will undoubtedly head into the final as the one to beat.
Spoiler Alert, a leg one winner, set a lifetime mark on Thursday scoring by open daylight in 1:58; the fastest time for any of the series’ winners. Brett Crawford piloted the Misty Carey-trained trotter to the convincing romp in the Mongeon Series second leg, a series that will conclude on May 3.
Live racing continues on Friday evening at Saratoga with a 6:45 p.m. first post. There is a Pick-Five carryover of $3,182 on Friday night. The Pick-Five is a 50-cent minimum wager.