Bert Belanger trainee upsets at Saratoga

Flyhawk Thriller (Cash Hall) pulled off the harness racing upset in the Open Trot on Saturday night at Saratoga Casino and Raceway.

With no Sunday racing this week, there were co-features on the thirteen race card as the $15,000 Open Trot joined the regular Saturday feature the Open Pace .

Both races were contested at a distance of 1 1/16 miles.

Flyhawk Thriller was dismissed at odds of 34-1 while starting from post four in the Open for hightsteppers. Driver Jim Devaux moved the longshot into the pocket and tracked rival Waiting On A Woman (Jordan Derue) every step of the way. J A T O (Stephane Bouchard) brought a lengthy win streak into the Saturday co-feature and came charging up to challenge Waiting On A Woman. Flyhawk Thriller popped the pocket around the final turn before getting up to win by a half length. J A T O came on for second while Waiting On A Woman had to settle for the show spot.

Flyhawk Thriller returned $70.50 to win and led an exacta and triple that paid $229.50 and $2080, respectively.

Flyhawk Thriller is trained by Bert Belanger.

Chris Marino's Spinarama (Cam's Card Shark) prevailed in the co-featured Open Pace behind a strong effort on the front end which saw him score in 1:59.3 in the 1 1/16 mile Open. Stephane Bouchard piloted Spinarama, who was the race's 6-5 betting favorite, to the Saturday score.

Live racing resumes on Thursday afternoon at Saratoga with a first post time set for 4:00pm.

Mike Sardella