Sassy Hanover (Cam’s Card Shark) won his first ever local Open Pace on Saturday night at Saratoga Casino Hotel. With a few of the more successful Open Pacers this season not competing on Saturday, the stage was set for a “newbie” to score in the feature and it was Claude Huckabone Jr’s Sassy Hanover who did just that. Dismissed at odds of 8-1, Sassy Hanover made it to the front in a 27.2 first quarter over the sloppy going and never relinquished that lead. Fellow Open first-timer Martial Bliss (Jay Randall) finished second while invader Winds Of Change (Bruce Aldrich Jr) earned the show spot. Sassy Hanover, who stopped the timer in 1:53.4, paid $19.20 in his upset win and led an exacta and triple that came back $73 and $1,269, respectively. The seven year old pacer was piloted to the feature win by Billy Dobson.
Live racing continues on Sunday afternoon at the Spa with a matinee beginning at 12:15pm.
Mike Sardella
Photo: Melissa Simser-Iovino
