Spring Claiming Series Highlights Saturday Doubleheader
The Spring Claiming Series got underway on Saturday afternoon at Saratoga Gaming and Raceway though it didn’t feel much like spring. On a chilly, blustery March day, Saturday would feature the best of the lower level claimers at the Spa. The series is a chance for the track’s $5,000 claiming pacers to race together and gather points towards the April $7,500 final.
The qualifications for horses to be eligible were that they must have raced at least four of their last six starts in a $5,000 claimer prior to being entered for the series. In addition, a horse’s trainer must have raced the majority of his or her starts at Saratoga last year in order to be eligible, thus giving local horses preference to compete in the series. There are three legs of the series with two or three divisions per leg leading up to the final in three weeks.
Saturday afternoon saw three divisions of the first leg of the series go postward with several horses displaying big time efforts. The first race of the day was the first race of the Spring Claiming Series and would be contested without a clear cut favorite. Fun Time was making his local debut for trainer Diane Peterson and would start from the rail. Despite having the inside post, the six year old was dismissed at 7-1. After getting away third and staying inside throughout the mile, the chances for Fun Time to make his local debut a winning one appeared bleak. The passing lane opened up turning for home and the patience of driver Barry Segel was rewarded as Fun Time flew up the rail to record the win in 1:57. In addition to the winner’s share of the $4,500 purse, Fun Time secured points towards the April final with the victory. Baylander (Dan Cappello Jr) ran second while LA Rock (Billy Dobson) was third.
The second of the series races for the day was won by Western Prize. Chris Long was up to pilot the claiming pacer who has competed and won at the Spa several times in seasons past. On Saturday, the trip was difficult but the result was good for the Kyle Spagnola trainee. Western Prize added his name to a long list of horses to win that weren’t the favorite. The first two weeks of racing at Saratoga in 2010 have seen longshot after longshot prevail and favorites win at an incredibly low rate. In each of the first two divisions of the Spring Series, the favorite did not hit the board, furthering the trend of longshots having success in the first couple of weeks of the meet. Just Sit N Wait (Segel) was the runner up to Western Prize while Ryan Seelster (Brian Cross) ran third.
The final race for the afternoon was the claiming series’ third and final division for the day. Macho Uno was fresh off a race in which he won with ease the previous week, beating the $7,500 claimers. Because the majority of his races last year were in the $5,000 claimer, the pacer was eligible for the series and would emerge as the likely favorite to win it. Despite starting from post eight in the first leg of the series on Saturday, Macho Uno would be released at even money and be presented with the chance to buck the trend of the favorites being defeated. It was post eight, no problem for Macho Uno who has carried through his 2009 dominance right into this year as he wired the field from the outside post and recorded back to back wins to begin the racing season. Trainer Gary Levine claimed the veteran pacer in the final month of last year’s season and gave him the winter off. The patience has paid off as not only has Macho Uno scored two wins in two tries, but has emerged as the Spring Claiming Series favorite and will prove very difficult to beat. Keep an eye on Saturday afternoon racing in the next month as the Spring Claiming Series will take center stage during the matinee programs.
While Saturday afternoons are new to the schedule for us at Saratoga, Sunday afternoons have become routine in the past few years and so far this season, Sundays belong to Twin Oaks Tess. The Yonkers invader made easy work of her foes in her local debut on opening weekend as she coasted to a 1:55.4 win on March 7th. This weekend was much of the same for the five year old Scott Blackler trainee who had regular reinsman Jason Bartlett in town to pilot. Assigned post eight on Sunday, Twin Oaks Tess wasted very little time as Bartlett moved the favorite to the lead and though they had to work a little harder for it this week, they secured another open victory. The win was the fourth already in the young season for Twin Oaks Tess who grabbed the winner’s share of the $15,500 purse and moved her career bankroll to over $200,000 lifetime with the score in the Sunday feature. Whether or not the mare continues to make the trip up the Thruway to Saratoga remains to be seen but if we continue to see Twin Oaks Tess at the Spa, I think it’s safe to say that we will continue to see her in the Saratoga winners circle!
Live racing resumes this weekend with Friday and Saturday night action starting at 7:05pm. The Saturday and Sunday matinees begin at 12:45pm. Until next week, I’m Mike Sardella wishing you the best of luck and we’ll see YOU at the finish line!
Mike Sardella