Friendly Amigo pulled off a 56-1 upset in the $83,700 Allerage Fillies & Mares Open Trot and provided driver Jody Jamieson with his 6,000th career win.
Post 7 starter Pembroke Heat Wave (Yannick Gingras) worked her way to the lead ahead of Friendly Amigo and Jamieson during a :26.4 opening quarter while the parked outside starter Yursa Hanover (John Campbell) pressed on.
Yursa Hanover edged ahead of Pembroke Heat Wave down the backstretch, eventually clearing at the :54.3 half.
From there Jamieson sent Friendly Amigo first over from third and swept to command. The five-year-old daughter of Amigo Hall-Diminutive opened up a two length lead past three-quarters in 1:23.3 and continued to pour it on down the stretch. She stopped the clock in a career-best 1:52.2 with five lengths to spare. Jersey As (George Brennan) came on for second and Autumn Escapade (David Miller) was third.
Friendly Amigo earned her third win in 25 starts this year for trainer Blair Burgess and owner-breeders Robert Burgess of Campbellville, Ont., and Karin Olsson Burgess of Milton, Ont.
"A couple of things happened in the barn when we were coming out," noted Moffat, Ont. resident Jamieson after his milestone win. "Blair said to me don't look at this mare's lines, she's a lot better. He thought she could go with these mares all along, her form just hasn't been that good. That was the first thing he said to me, and the second thing he said to me was that he was going to quit telling me how to drive them. I think it kind of worked out the best for the both of us because we haven't had a very good week yet. But this mare got spotted good and when John cleared -- he was out for a long way -- he was right to pounce on and she just trotted hard right ot the wire."
Friendly Amigo paid a whopping $115.80 to win. Her career bankroll surpassed the half-million dollar mark.
Jamieson has now won 406 races so far in 2011 while banking over $8.6 million in purses, making him Canada's leading money earning driver this season. The two-time O'Brien Award winner has earned over $84 million in his career.