Talking Blues (Rocknroll Hanover) pulled off a rare upset in the feature on Saturday night at Saratoga Casino and Raceway on an evening in which the harness racing favorites were thriving.
Talking Blues was dismissed at odds of 9-1 and picked up cover in the $18,000 Open Pace.
The race was contested at a distance of 1 1/16 miles for the first time and Talking Blues needed every bit of that extra distance to reel in the race's favorite Ronny Bugatti (Austin Siegelman) in the final strides.
The Heidi Rohr-trained pacer stopped the timer in 2:00.1 in the 1 1/16 mile feature winning a photo with Ronny Bugatti who had to settle for second.
Last week's Open winner Panocchio (Gerry Mattison) came on to finish third.
It was the second local Open win of the year for Talking Blues and reinsman Jimmy Devaux who went wire-to-wire in the Saturday feature in early April. Returning $20.40 to win,
Talking Blues led an exacta that came back $76.00 and a triple that paid $482.50.
Live racing continues on Sunday afternoon at Saratoga with a first post time set for 12:45pm.
Mike Sardella