Astute handicappers likely noticed something unusual Saturday night at Charles Town Races.

The place and show horses from Aqueduct’s April 19 $150,000 Bay Shore Stakes both ran last night in West Virginia, albeit in different races – and with different results.

Bay Shore runner-up Faster Gator made his local bow with a decisive allowance victory, while show horse Pascaline suffered a surprising upset.

Saturday night brought the first stakes race of the month at Charles Town when the Jefferson County oval hosted the latest edition of the $75,000 Robert Leavitt Memorial for state-bred three-year-olds. The event proved well worth the wait.

The event’s headliner was Pascaline, last year’s champion West Virginia-bred two-year-old male. Last fall Pascaline won the off-the-turf Laurel Futurity, and this spring he has faced open stakes foes, including Mo Plex, hero of the recent Grade 3 Ohio Derby, who had beaten him by a length earlier this year in the Bay Shore Stakes.

Pascaline had also run third in the Long Branch Stakes at Monmouth Park before a disappointing fifth-place finish in the inaugural Delaware Derby.

That resume was enough to convince the betting public: Pascaline, with Angel Cruz up, went off at 2-5.

But a pair of state-bred boys with ample experience over the strip, Im the Director and Spotafreeone, both sent postward at 7-2, were looking to spoil the state-bred champ’s local debut. Several longshots with upset on their minds rounded out the seven-horse field.

Both Pascaline and Spotafreeone broke well enough, but long shots Fiber Proof (33-1) and Ray of Sunshine (21-1) led the field through the clubhouse turn. Past the stands for the first time, Pascaline gradually angled out wide clear sailing, while Spotafreeone appeared in tight briefly between horses before being reserved even further off the pace.

Fiber Proof and Ray of Sunshine led the field down the backside, but Pascaline made his presence known while three-wide entering the far turn, while Fiber Proof dropped away.

Then jockey Arnaldo Bocachica angled Spotafreeone outside of his rival, and those two gradually began to dispose of the rest. At the top of the lane, Pascaline still owned a modest lead, but Spotafreeone wore him down late. Spotafreeone surged past in the final strides for a neck victory while stopping the timer in 1:24.95 for seven furlongs on a muddy track.

Spotafreeone paid $9.80 to win and topped a one-dollar exacta, with the favorite underneath, that returned $12 for a one-dollar wager. Ray of Sunshine held third. Manny Too acted up in the starting gate and lost jockey Victor Rodriguez in the first jump. The horse walked off under his own power, and Rodriguez rode the nightcap.

A sophomore son of Warrior’s Reward trained by Jeff Runco for owner John Link, Spotafreeone remained undefeated in three seasonal outings and now owns four wins from five career tries while notching his first stakes victory. It was his fourth consecutive victory.

“He’s always acted like he was going to be pretty good, and he was training well for this,” Runco said. “He doesn’t mind settling into stride early and then making one late move. I was happy for John. I’ve had horses for him over the past 10-12 years, maybe one or two at a time. He’s finally got a good one and this was his first stakes winner.”

Pascaline was clearly second best, 2 ¼-lengths clear of the rest. But the odds-on choice, trained by Arnaud Delacour for West Point Thoroughbreds, et. al., had no genuine excuses while upset in his local debut and was outkicked in the lane by a budding local star.

Runco was noncommittal about what comes next for Spotafreeone. But it seems likely that he will keep his charge in state-bred company.

“We’ll play it by ear, but I think the [open $500,000 Robert] Hilton is going to be a little too tough for him,” the trainer said. “Faster Gator will likely be in there, and I suspect there are really fast horses coming in from out of town.”

Ah, yes, Faster Gator.

The Anthony Farrior-trained Vekoma colt had run a tough-luck second in the Bay Shore, just a head behind Mo Plex while a length in front of Pascaline. Subsequent outings – a seventh in the Chick Lang at Pimlico and a fourth in the Tom Ridge on the synthetic at Presque Isle – hadn’t exactly burnished his reputation.

But if he is bound for the Hilton, Saturday provided a useful prep in his first try over the strip.

With Arnaldo Bocachica in the irons, Faster Gator easily lived up to his role as the 1-5 favorite in a two-turn affair.

Faster Gator gained command through the clubhouse turn and an opening quarter in a solid 23.22 seconds. But it was in the second quarter when he broke his rivals, throwing down a 22.82-second quarter mile that left them gasping to keep up.

Faster Gator then romped home six lengths clear. A sophomore son of Vekoma trained by Anthony Farrior for owner Richard Burnsworth, Faster Gator notched his third win in six career outings by getting the 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:17.75.

To Runco’s point: Faster Gator got the opening six furlongs in 1:10.84, while the leaders in the Leavitt were a full second slower. Faster Gator paid $2.60 to win.