by Mike Sardella, for Saratoga Casino and Raceway
Saratoga Springs, NY — Four divisions of the New York Sire Stakes Late Closers for 3-year-old trotting fillies served as the features on the Tuesday night (August 16) card at Saratoga Casino and Raceway. It was a mixed bag of favorites and longshots in the four stakes races, which had five winners between them.
The evening’s opener saw an upset come in as Vacation Angel (Dream Vacation) registered her first victory of the season by reeling in the race’s 1-5 favorite All That Dazzle (John Cross) in the final strides. Leading driver Billy Dobson sat behind the Don Guidette, Jr. trainee as she prevailed in a career best 2:00.4 at odds of 9-1.
Locally based filly Linda Goldstein (Credit Winner) pulled off an upset at 8-1 as she surged past her rivals in the stretch to grab the winner’s share of the $12,200 purse in another division. A lifetime mark of 2:01.3 came with the victory for the Kim Crawford trained and driven filly.
Crawford then went on to secure a dead heat win in the following Late Closer event as Stell R Time (Dream Vacation) poked her nose out in time to tie Lotto Winner (Sam Schillaci) in 2:00.1, the fastest of the stakes divisions on the evening. The dead-heaters were essentially co-favored, both returning $3.00 to win.
The final division of stakes competition for the night saw heavily favored It’s A Diamond (Cash Hall) move out to the lead early for Stephane Bouchard and then cruise in the stretch for a 2:01.1 victory. It was the second consecutive score in Late Closer competition for the Sam Sergi trained sophomore filly.
Late Closer competition will again take center stage at the Spa on Wednesday evening as four divisions for colt and gelding 3-year-olds are featured. First post for the 13-race program is set for 7:20 p.m.