Driver Matt Athearn swept the co-features on the Saturday, Sept. 7 card at Saratoga Casino Hotel.
Athearn piloted the winners of both the regular Saturday feature — the $20,270 Open Pace — and the Learn and Earn Pacing Series Final.
Athearn sat behind out-of-towner So Rock N Roll (pictured above) as the four-year-old Western Maverick gelding made his Spa debut. The Benson Merrill trainee came into the Open with 11 wins in 16 seasonal starts. Dismissed at odds of 7-1, So Rock N Roll got a second-over trip behind the race’s favourite, Natameri (Wally Hennessey), and tipped off that cover around the final turn. The Spa first-timer motored home in the stretch to power past his rivals before stopping the timer in 1:55.1 for the Open score.
So Rock N Roll, who is owned by Leighton Property of Waterboro, Me., paid $17 to win besting runner-up Natameri by three-quarters of a length while last week’s Open winner Talking Tom (Chris Long) earned the show spot.
Athearn got the driving assignment behind longshot Get Down in the $13,513 Learn And Earn Series Final on Saturday after never having piloted the freshman pacer before. Get Down snuck into the final and was ignored by the bettors to the tune of odds of 91-1. The Glenn Raia trainee had a third-place finish as his best of the four-leg series leading up to the final in which he drew post position two but got away fifth before dropping back to eighth at the three-quarter pole. Athearn found a seam for Get Down late, and he started picking horses off one by one until eventually coming on to win in 2:00.2 to pull off the series shocker while paying $185 to win.
Bobby Mcgee (Wally Hennessey) closed from post eight to finish second while Bobby White Socks (Brett Crawford) earned the show spot.
Live harness racing continues on Sunday, Sept. 8 featuring a Pick Five carryover of $6,377. First post time for the matinee is 12 p.m.
(Saratoga Casino Hotel)