Party rolls on for Circuit Party

Circuit Party (Donato Hanover-Forever Home) earned his fourth win in a row on Friday (Aug. 18) evening at Saratoga Casino Hotel and similar to his previous three harness racing wins, he had to race the majority of the mile from the outside, this time in the top $18,200 Winners Over/Open Handicap Trot.

By The Book (Brian Cross) and Makadushin N Cheez (Jim Devaux) battled through the first turn for the lead. As the opening panel clocked :28.2, By The Book never found the rail and retreated to the pocket spot behind Makadushin N Cheez. Yucatan Party Man (Billy Dobson), also parked, led an outer charge through the half in :58.2. His efforts were followed by Circuit Party (Wally Hennessey), who sat fifth and 4-1/2 lengths off the leader.

At the three-quarters in 1:27.2, Hennessey tipped out three-wide with the Dan Cappello, Jr. trainee and started chipping away at the distance between himself and the lead. Circuit Party challenged Makadushin N Cheez in the stretch and after using a :28.2 last quarter, Circuit Party prevailed by three-quarters of a length in 1:56.3, achieving his first career Open victory.

Malibu Kid (Matthew Athearn) rounded out the top three.

Owned by Lisa Unltd. LLC, it was the fourth win in five starts for his new connections and ninth victory of the season, yielding $70,751 in seasonal earnings. The five-year-old gelding moved his career bankroll to $95,209 from 10 wins. He paid $5.40 to win.

Hennessey completed a driving hat trick winning with The Royal Poze ($5.50) in 1:56 for trainer Brett Derue and with Sir Ballykeel ($18) in 1:58 for trainer John Hallett.

Racing resumes at Saratoga Casino Hotel on Saturday (Aug. 19) with 15 races set to go to the gate starting with a first post of 6:45 p.m. The card features a $171,000 New York Sire Stakes race, three $20,000 NYSS Excelsior divisions, and an $18,200 Winners Over/Open Handicap Pace. In addition to the racing card, a charity match race between harness driver Brett Beckwith and thoroughbred jockey Flavien Prat is scheduled between races six and seven.

For complete race results, click here: US Trotting entries.

by Jessica Hallett, for Saratoga Casino Hotel