Linda Marie (Crazed) continued her breakout sophomore season on Friday night as the Jim Doherty Jr-trained trotting mare scored her fifth victory in her last six starts.
Linda Marie came to Saratoga Casino and Raceway from Monticello for the first time two weeks ago while on a four race win streak and finished a strong second in her local debut.
In Friday night's $8,900 trotting feature, driver Bruce Aldrich Jr positioned the four year old trotting mare in the pocket behind the race's favorite Dony Andreas (Jordan Derue) and surged by in the stretch to win a photo with runner up Imperial Storm (Jim Devaux) and Dony Andreas who had to settle for third.
Linda Marie, who now owns five wins in her seven seasonal starts, set a new lifetime mark of 2:00.3 on the chilly Friday night in Saratoga.
She returned $12.60 to win and led an exacta and trifecta that returned $57.50 and $122.50, respectively.
Live racing continues on Saturday night at the Spa with a 6:45pm first post.
Mike Sardella