With a super impressive gate-to-wire harness racing victory, Linedrive Hanover and driver James MacDonald rewrote the all-age track record at Flamboro Downs Sunday in capturing the $273,500 Charles Juravinski Memorial Cup.
Renamed from the Confederation Cup to honor the memory of longtime Flamboro Downs owner Charles Juravinski, the Cup is restricted to four-year-old pacers.
At the start of the 10th race feature, Desperate Man and driver Trevor Henry left from post eight only to have to take a seat behind Linedrive Hanover and driver James MacDonald, who outsprinted Desperate Man for control of the early lead as they went by the first quarter mile in :27.
Coming to the half mile in :55, Bulldog Hanover (Jody Jamieson), the 7/5 race favorite, came out first-over with Louās Pearlman (Yannick Gingras) following second-over with Charlie May (David Miller) following that outside flow.
Then in the backstretch, Miller took Charlie May three-wide but they could not loop the field past the three-quarters in 1:22.
Meanwhile, Linedrive Hanover and MacDonald held the field at bay and in the stretch drive, Linedrive Hanover held off Desperate Man to win by one length in 1:49. Dean B Hanover (Jordan Stratton) was third.
LINEDRIVE HANOVER REPLAY
The time of the race, a new lifetime mark for Linedrive Hanover, also rewrote the all-age track record at Flamboro Downs of 1:49.2 set by Somebeachsomewhere at age 3 in 2008. Linedrive Hanover is now the fastest horse ever on a half mile track in Canada. That record was held by This Is The Plan (1:49.1) set at H3R in 2014.
It was the 11th win in 12 starts this year for Linedrive Hanover. The son of Betting Line is trained by Anthony Beaton for the West Wins Stable, Mckinlay & Fielding-Mac Nichol. He paid $6.80 to win.
For MacDonald, it was his fifth win on the Flamboro race card.
In the 7th race $50,000 Margaret Juravinski Invitational for four-year-old pacing mares, Awesome Hill put on a totally awesome performance to capture the race in a photo finish.
Beach Moment, a 30-1 longshot for driver Yannick Gingras, shot out of the starting gate and to the lead with Mystifying (Jonathan Drury) grabbing the two-hole spot to the opening quarter mile in :27.3.
Past the half mile in :56.2 and it was Awesome Hill and driver Doug McNair coming first-over to challenge Beach Moment.
Those two would tough it out down the backstretch as Exotic Dragon (Travis Cullen) went for the second-over cover to the three-quarters in 1:24.3.
At the top of the stretch Awesome Hill was still grinding it out first-over and wearing down Beach Moment, then was able to hold off the late charging Mystifying to win the photo finish by a half a head in 1:53.4. Beach Moment held for third.
AWESOME HILL REPLAY
A daughter of Sunshine Beach, it was the fifth win this year for Awesome Hill. She is trained by Chantal Mitchell for owner-breeder Tom Hill of Hamilton. Awesome Hill was the wagering favorite and paid $3.30 to win.
For complete race results, click here.
by Steve Wolf, for Harnesslink