Always Watching hangs tough in Saratoga Open

Always Watching (He’s Watching) recorded her second Open Pace win of the harness racing season on Tuesday (April 9) after she went coast-to-coast in the matinee’s feature at Saratoga Casino Hotel. Jordan Derue owns, trains and drives the mare who last year was the Horse of the Year at the Spa.

Always Watching, a six-year-old mare, won nine local Opens in 2023 and ten races in total en route to almost $120,000 in earnings and the Horse of the Year honors. Always Watching worked hard in lap one as she rallied despite drawing post eight.

Tuesday’s victory in the $15,000 Fillies and Mares Open was her second in ’24 and came in a seasonal best 1:54 led off quarters of :27.2 and :55.4 before stealing a bit of a breather in the third quarter. The Derue stable star held strong and had just enough to withstand the late bid from back-to-back Open winner Arizona (Brett Beckwith) who was the race’s favorite.

Fond Memories A (Larry Stalbaum) earned the show spot on Tuesday in a race that saw Always Watching pay $7.90 to win and lead an exacta and triple that returned $17 and $78.50, respectively.

ALWAYS WATCHING REPLAY

Live racing resumes on Saturday evening at Saratoga with a first post time set for 5:00 pm.