Three sections Memorial to Doc Frank hosted in Saratoga

On Saturday evening, April 20, three divisions from the first leg of the Doc Frank Memorial Pacing Series were featured as co-features on the harness racing event at Saratoga Casino Hotel.

Robyn Mangiardi's Isle Coach (Corner Blitz) won the first of the three $10,000 divisions, securing victory for the second time in the previous five days. Isle Coach, who finished just short of victory in his Spa debut a few weeks ago, was unstoppable on Tuesday as he won handily for the second time in the 2024 campaign.

The first leg of the series saw Isle Coach take the lead early again and dominate the engine on Saturday. The race favourite, SG Summer's Dream (Billy Dobson), put up a strong late charge, but the Mangiardi trainee had to dig deep to stave off the challenge and win his third race of the year, stopping the clock in 1:56.1, which equalled for the quickest time among the three divisions in the series.

Isle Coach made it to eight starts in a row when he finished first or second. Chris Long led Isle Coach to victory on Saturday.

That evening, Long piloted his second series winner while sitting behind Bruce's VO N Coke (Huntsville) in the Doc Frank Memorial's second category. In the early going, Long snatched Bruce's VO N Coke back while piloting for trainer John Berger, keeping a safe distance from the high pace.

Bruce's VO N Coke, which paid $16.40 to win in his first race, finished second to Brett Beck's much favoured King Kong, who was finally passed by the three-year-old as he made his move in the backstretch to close in on the leaders. Joseph Meaney of Crestwood, New York is the owner of him. Long's two series victories were two of the veteran reinsman's three on the day.

The heavy favourite prevailed in the third and final division of the first leg, which was contested on Saturday. Youaremyrock (Boston Red Rocks) entered the $10,000 category of the series on a four-race winning streak, and driver Brett Beckwith did not take long to push the 1-5 betting favourite into the lead.

The four-year-old dominated the field, scoring an open-length victory in 1:56.1, which tied Isle Coach for the quickest time among leg one winners. Youaremyrock arrived in town having won two straight after joining the Mark Beckwith stable earlier in the month. After Saturday's victory, the pacer, who is jointly owned by Mark Beckwith and Rick Berks, has a five-game streak.

On Sunday afternoon, there will be one more live race, starting at noon.