To win a horse race is difficult. You need so many things to go well.
The horse needs to be talented and sound. You most likely need a good post position but regardless of post draw, race luck is a must. The trainer needs to do his job, the driver needs to do his.
So many things need to go just right to win a race.
- Advertisement -
Now, consider you have a top-flight horse racing at an Open level. To beat the best is difficult. To do so twice in a row is unlikely but to score three consecutive victories in Opens is extremely rare. In fact, at Saratoga Casino Hotel no horse won three straight Opens in the entire 2020 campaign. Now granted, the season was a bit of an abbreviated one due to the pandemic but still there were plenty of Opens contested at the Spa.
Gruden scored for the second consecutive week in the Open Trot at Saratoga Casino Hotel on Monday afternoon.
Billy Dobson piloted the Monica Krist-trained trotter and wasted no time moving him to the front in this week’s $12,000 feature. Enjoying comfortable fractions on the engine, Gruden didn’t face much of a threat before powering away to win in 1:57.3 while the favourite at odds of 4-5. Stone In Love (Brian Cross), who finished third in last week’s Open, sat the pocket to the winner on Monday and finished second while local legend Cash Me Out (Phil Fluet) had to settle for the show spot.