Gigfy stepped up to the plate and scored in his move up into the $14,000 Open Trot at Saratoga Casino Hotel on Monday (May 3).
Driver Alek Chartrand moved Gigfy to the early lead, but gave way to millionaire trotter Cash Me Out heading to the quarter in order to get a pocket trip. With the tempo tepid in lap one, the race did not set up for closers, leaving Cash Me Out and Gigfy to decide the victor in deep stretch. Gigfy surged in the passing lane and got up in time to record his first-ever win the Open Trot, stopping the timer in 1:58.2 to edge Cash Me Out. Gruden, the race’s favourite, closed to be finish third.
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.
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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.
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Macheasy A made it look easy winning for the second consecutive Tuesday afternoon (April 13) at Saratoga Casino Hotel.
The Rob Harmon trainee came to the Spa for the first time last week with two wins to his credit in 2021 but with no evidence that he could thrive in an Open Pace. The eight-year-old pacer proved otherwise last week when he parlayed a pocket ride to victory with Jay Randall at the controls.
This week, Macheasy A once again got a two-hole trip behind a Jackie Greene-trained pacer. Moonshine Kisses (Billy Dobson) raced against top-flight competition at Yonkers this winter and spring and wound up going off at even money in the wagering in his return to the Spa. Moonshine Kisses cut the mile and set fast fractions on the engine on Tuesday before having Macheasy A cruise past him in the stretch. Macheasy A, who was the public’s 3-5 betting favorite, stopped the timer in a 2021 Saratoga-best 1:51.3 in his second straight win in the $11,000 Open for pacers with Randall
Gigfy competed in the Open Trot on a few occasions last year at Saratoga Casino Hotel and while he didn’t fare well at that level, he is thriving in the early stages of the 2021 campaign at the Spa.
Brian Mattison trains the seven-year-old trotter who recorded a win at the Meadowlands this winter after being lightly raced in the 2020 season. Last Monday, Gigfy dropped in class and went coast-to-coast in 1:57.3 for a decisive victory with Alek Chartrand in the bike.
This week, looking to repeat, Gigfy drew post seven in a nine-horse field in the matinee’s $7,700 featured race. Chartrand was aggressive in the early stages with the sharp trotter and forwardly placed him at the start. After the race’s favourite Stone In Love (Brian Cross) surged first-over into the lead, Gigfy followed not far behind and took dead aim on the public’s even money top choice around the final turn before reeling him in to score at odds of 4-1. Gigfy stopped the timer in 1:57.2 on a cold, breezy af