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Alek Chartrand had a productive afternoon with his stable on Tuesday afternoon at Saratoga Casino Hotel.
A top ten driver this season at the Spa, Chartrand is healing up from a minor injury and thus has handed over driving duties to others this week.
In Tuesday’s feature, Chartrand trainee Onspeed N (Bettors Delight) was in the hands of Wally Hennessey when she drew the rail in the $10,000 feature for fillies and mares. Onspeed N is just two weeks removed from recording a victory in a career-best 1:53.4 with Chartrand in the sulky.
Following a hard-charging third when coming from off the pace last week, Onspeed N cut the mile on Tuesday after reclaiming the lead from rival All Speed Rising (Billy Dobson) approaching the quarter pole. The seven year old New Zealand invader didn’t face much of a challenge before pacing away from her rivals to win in 1:54 with Hennessey at the controls. All Speed Rising sat the pocket and finished second to the 3-5 betting favourite in the feat
Cash Me Out won his sixth Open Trot of the 2021 meet at Saratoga Casino Hotel on Monday afternoon (July 26), living up to 2-5 billing with a 1:56.1 score in the $20,000 feature.
After working hard to get the top in :27.1, driver Phil Fluet rated a nice breather in the middle half for the 10-year-old son of Cash Hall, who didn t face much of a challenge at any point in the mile. Cash Me Out coasted to his eighth seasonal win and the 65th of his illustrious career. Exarch (Jimmy Devaux) recovered from an early break and rallied to finish second; long shot Bucketlist Hanover (Larry Stalbaum) earned the show spot.
Trainer Tiffanee Staley and driver Denis St. Pierre have enjoyed a ton of success this season at Saratoga Casino Hotel after relocating here from Canada.
St. Pierre is a Spa veteran but this most recent local stint for him is the first with Staley running the stable. The tandem had two horses in on Monday afternoon as razor sharp trotters Reign Of Honor and Tesla Seelster both looked to continue their hot streaks at Saratoga.
Reign Of Honor (Father Patrick) prevailed in his first start in the local Open Trot in early June and after a brief stint out of town returned to the Spa to take part in the $14,000 Open on Monday.
Exarch has become a force in the Open Trot at Saratoga Casino Hotel in recent months and on Tuesday afternoon, the six-year-old won the $14,000 feature for the third time.
Jimmy Devaux pilots the John Gerow-trained trotter who went coast-to-coast in 1:56.2. After working hard to get to the top in a :27.3 first quarter, Exarch got a big-time breather in the middle half and reached three-quarters in 1:27.2. Pocket-sitter Gigfy (Alek Chartrand) rode the coattails of the winner before coming up second best while Cash Me Out (Phil Fluet), who won the previous two weeks’ Opens, finished third.
Exarch, who is owned by Fortune Valley Stables of Ballston Spa, N.Y., now has six wins this season and has hit the board in 14 of 18 starts in 2021. The winner was the even-money favourite in the feature and led an exacta and triple that paid $17.40 and $38.60, respectively. Devaux piloted a pair of winners on Tuesday to add to his track-leading tally for the 2021 campaign.