Racing Roundup: Long and Mangiardi double their pleasure at Saratoga
Wednesday's (August 31) edition of Racing Roundup features results stories from Saratoga Casino and Raceway and Monticello Raceway.
Long and Mangiardi double their pleasure at Saratoga
Saratoga Springs, NY -- The Chris Long-Robyn Mangiardi tandem teamed up for a double on Wednesday night’s program at Saratoga Casino and Raceway.
Pacing mares April’s Golden Hour (Veeza) and You Can’t Fool Me (I Am A Fool) were both wire-to-wire winners on the final August race card at the Spa. April’s Golden Hour set a lifetime mark by wiring the field in 1:56 for her fifth victory of the season. Long marched the favorite out to the lead heading to the quarter pole and April’s Golden Hour had enough left late to hang on for the victory in the evening’s second race.
You Can’t Fool Me continued her red hot season by registering win number 11 on the campaign. The claiming pacing mare cruised to victory on Wednesday, repeating for her connections. Trainer Robyn Mangiardi co-owns the 5-year-old with Mark Taylor. Like stablemate April’s Golden Hour, You Can’t Fool Me was the public’s 2-5 favorite as she cruised to yet another win on Wednesday night.
With the training double, Mangiardi sits just outside the top ten in the trainer standings while Chris Long continues to flip-flop between the fifth and sixth spots with Brian Cross in the driver standings at the Spa.
Live racing continues on Thursday night at Saratoga with a 15-race program set to begin at 7:20 p.m.
-- Mike Sardella
Monticello Raceway
Trotters were in the spotlight at Monticello Raceway on Wednesday afternoon with Samsawinner copping the top trot of the week and Giant T kept his ball rolling when the former $4,000 claimer notched his 11th triumph of the season. Jimmy Taggart, Jr. handled the driving chores behind Samsawinner as the 5-year-old Victory Sam gelding scored for trainer Bruce Aldrich Sr. Sent off as the betting favorite from the two hole, Taggart was content to let Zeke Parker cut the mile with second choice Buck ID. Parker grabbed command on the first turn with Buck ID and the duo led though fractions of :29.3, :59.3 and 1:28.4 with Taggart biding his time in the two hole. As the two trotters turned for home Taggart moved Samsawinner to the outside and the veteran trotter dug and trotted by the leader to score a 1:59 victory, his fifth of the season. Buck ID held second place and My Cool Breeze and driver Mike Merton got up for the show dough. Samsawinner paid $5.10 for win. In the trotting co-feature, Giant T just keeps on keeping on. The 5-year-old Giant Hit gelding, who was plucked out of a $4,000 claiming event last spring, scored his 11th seasonal triumph for Tommy Carpenito’s King of the Hill Stable. Trainer Bob Beauregard moved Giant T to the $10,000 claiming ranks for the first time. Bruce Aldrich, Jr. was at the controls and they used the front-end route to defeat Strongbow and Jimmy Taggart, Jr. by 1-1/2 lengths in a time of 2:01.1. Despite starting from the six hole and being moved up in class, the betting public got on Giant T’s bandwagon and sent the trotter off as the 6-5 betting favorite in the race and Giant T rewarded his supporters with a $4.20 win payoff.