Burkentine Hanover (Cam's Card Shark) recorded his first victory in the local Open Pace at Saratoga Casino and Raceway behind a gutsy first over effort in Saturday's harness racing feature.
The five year old pacer finished third in his first try in the local Open last week but on Saturday would not be denied.
Stephane Bouchard piloted the Heidi Rohr-trained pacer and moved first over on Panocchio (Gerry Mattison) who was seeking his fifth Open win of the year at the Spa.
Burkentine Hanover battled the front-runner for close to a half mile before poking his nose out in time to prevail in 1:51.4.
Panocchio held on for second while the race's favorite Domethatagain (Billy Dobson) had to settle for third.
It was victory number seven on the season for Burkentine Hanover who returned $8.00 to win and led an exacta and triple that came back $29 and $104, respectively.
Live racing resumes on Wednesday night at Saratoga with a first post time set for 6:45pm.
Mike Sardella