John Horne for Tioga Downs.
Obrigado (Rene Sejthen) looked in prime form beating the best trotters at Tioga Downs on Saturday (July 21).
Obrigado ($5.20) was bet as the second choice to Barn Bella (Claude Huckabone). Obrigado controlled all the fractions (:27.3, :56.3, 1:25.0, 1:53.3). He went to the lead and never gave it up even as he was pressured all the way down the backstretch and the final turn by the betting favorite, Barn Bella (Claude Huckabone Jr.). Prairie Fortune (Jim Meittinis) took a run at him in the stretch but settled for second best. Barn Bella gutted it out to finish third.
Obrigado is an 8-year-old gelding by Boy Band. Owned by trainer Paul Kelley as well as SRF Stable, L Higgins and Stable 45. It was his first win in two years and career victory number 43. He has won almost 1.8 million dollars in his career.
Truth And Liberty (Mike Simons) fires late to capture Fillies and Mares Open Handicap ($12,000).
Roll With Sparky led the group to the first quarter in :27.1 and the half in :56.1. K J's Caroline (Mike Merton) then took a short lead before hitting three-quarters in 1:23.4.
Truth And Liberty ($5.20), who is owned by Fairy Horsemother Stables and trained by Simons, went three wide at the top of the stretch and blew right by to win in 1:52.3. MC Attagirl (Fern Paquet Jr.) came up late to finish second. K J's Caroline settled for third.
Truth And Liberty is a 6-year-old mare by Total Truth. It was her third win in 2018. She now has 31 lifetime victories.
Live racing returns to Tioga Downs on Sunday (July 22) with a 13
race card starting at 1:00.
For more information go to www.tiogadowns.com
