Wednesday marked the start of the annual Virginia O’Brien Memorial Pacing Series for fillies and mares at Saratoga Casino Hotel. The springtime series began a decade ago and the tenth installment for distaffers got underway with three divisions of the first leg that each went for a purse of $10,000. Little Instigator (Heston Blue Chip) cruised to a decisive victory as her race’s 1-9 betting favorite in leg one of the series. The Joe Skowyra trainee prevailed in her local debut last week (April 16) and on Wednesday was even more impressive, pacing away to score in a career-best 1:55.2 with Matt Athearn in the sulky. The filly is now five-for-eight in her young career.
Wayward Blue Chip (Tall Dark Stranger) parlayed a pocket ride to victory in her division of the Virginia O’Brien Memorial as reinsman Jimmy Devaux guided the Dale Lawton-trained filly to her third score of the season. Wayward Blue Chip sat the two-hole behind upset-minded Cindy’s Faith (Larry Stalbaum) before pacing past her to set a new lifetime mark of 1:56. Wayward Blue Chip was the 8-5 favorite in her division of leg one. The final division of the day went the way of Captain Catch. Michelle Warner trains the four year old mare who had Brett Beckwith piloting on Wednesday. Beckwith guided Captain Catch to victory for the fourth time in the five starts in which he’s sat behind her. In leg one, the Warner trainee came from off the pace to score in 1:57.4. There are three legs of the O’Brien Memorial scheduled leading up to the Final that will take place next month.
Live racing resumes on Sunday at the Spa with a matinee that begins at 12pm.
Mike Sardella | Saratoga Casino Hotel | Saratoga Springs, NY
Jessica Hallett photo
