Upset was the word of the day at Scarborough Downs Sunday as all the big-money races were won by less heralded entries in the Maine Standardbred Breeders Stakes 3-year-old division championships.

Leading off the string was Waldo, who won the 3-year-old colt trotting title in convincing fashion with a time of 2 minutes, 6.1 seconds. It was the first win ever for the horse owned by Linwood Perkins of Cornish and driven by John Nason.

Waldo, who’d been waylaid for much of the season by injury (two bowed tendons), missed all but one of his stakes races this summer. The 40-to-1 long shot on the tote board paid a whopping $85 to win, $17.80 to place, and $17 to show. The exacta in his $69,389 race paid $285.40 and anyone lucky enough to pick the 2-7-3 trifecta correctly pocketed $2,559.60.

“Yeah, it was such a great story. He was a 40-to-1 long shot and hardly anyone, if anyone, bet on him,” said Susan Higgins, Scarborough Downs’ director of marketing. “And he won by more than nine lengths. I’m really kicking myself for not making a $2 bet. I mean, $2 is nothing.

“It was quite a day for upsets!”

The next one was turned in by Cranmeadow Raven in the seventh, the $69,405 filly trotting title race. She and provisional driver David Hall, also her co-owner, blew away the the field by 163/4 lengths with a time of 2:03.2.

Cranmeadow Raven paid $11.20 to win and was part of a $234 exacta (4-2) along with second-place finisher and fellow long shot Here Comes Ruby. The trifecta (4-2-8) paid a cool $1,453.80. This was the first stakes win for owners David and Sandra Hall, who own Cranberry Meadow Farm in Berwick.

With 9-2 morning line odds, Cranmeadow Raven was the most modest of the “dark horses” to upset Sunday’s standardbred apple cart.

“The top yearlings from our breeding operation are generally sold, but no one wanted to buy Raven, giving us the chance to race her ourselves,” Sandra Hall said in a Scarborough press release.

Red Bird of Buxton was the next also-ran to defy the experts as a 3-1 third choice in the $69,523 ninth race for the filly pacing crown. The horse owned by Patrick Leavitt of Buxton ran a lifetime best mark of 1:59.3.

Red Bird, driven by Jason Bartlett and trained by Donald Richards, paid $8.20 to win.

The 10th race for the colt pacing championship saw another lifetime mark posted as Joe’s The Best lived up to his name and won in 1:59.2. The Maine-bred gelding was a 19-1 underdog and brought anyone confident enough to pick him a $43.80 win bet payday. The horse owned and trained by Gerald Kilgore of South Paris and guided by catch driver Kevin Switzer also paid $23.40 to place, $6.20 to show, $133.20 for the 7-4 exacta, and $891.40 for the 7-4-5 trifecta.

A horse is a Maine Standardbred if it is the offspring of a stallion registered to stand at stud in Maine for the breeding season. Standardbred horses got their name because they were bred to meet a certain standard of speed in the 1800s.

Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600 or at aneff@bangordailynews.net