Gaines Hanover outsprints Celebrity Bambino to win $810,000 Breeders Crown

Gaines Hanover (Cantab Hall) overcame Celebrity Bambino in a long harness racing stretch battle to capture the $810,000 Breeders Crown for two-year-old colt trotters on Friday (Oct. 28) at Woodbine Mohawk Park.

Gaines Hanover (Louis-Philippe Roy) got away sixth from the pylon post as Kilmister (Brian Sears) worked to the front in a :27.2 opening panel. The latter received a big breather to the half in :57, and Gaines Hanover followed Celebrity Bambino (Yannick Gingras) to the outside as they headed down the backstretch.

Celebrity Bambino eclipsed Kilmister as they hit three-quarters in 1:25.4 and straightened for home on top. He soon faced Gaines Hanover, who shifted off cover and began chipping away the new leader’s advantage. Celebrity Bambino battled valiantly into the final 1/16th of a mile, but Gaines Hanover had the fresher legs and pushed clear in the final strides for the victory in 1:53.2.

He was clear by a half-length at the line over Celebrity Bambino. Kilmister held on in a blanket finish for third.

GAINES HANOVER REPLAY

Gaines Hanover, who broke the track record in his elimination win, is now four-for-eight in his rookie season. The winner’s cheque ballooned his earnings to $489,351. Richard Moreau trains the $50,000 yearling purchase for Gestion J Y Blais of Montreal.

It was an extra-special moment for Roy and Moreau, as the reinsman and trainer both hoisted their first Breeders Crown trophy. Roy, a three-time Driver of the Year in Canada, also won the Ontario Regional Driving Championship earlier this year. He has 2,096 wins in 11,827 starts. Moreau has won Canada’s Trainer of the Year Award a record eight times in a career spanning 34 years, 6,649 wins, and 32,465 starts to date.

“It was great,” said Roy in his post-race interview. “The feeling down the lane – the trip worked out pretty good, and down the lane I just had in my mind ‘please, we didn’t do all that just for second,’ and the horse just responded well. It was just a great moment.”

To read all the ongoing coverage of the 2022 Breeders Crown, click here.

For complete race results, click here.

by Nicholas Barnsdale, for Harnesslink