He beat the best on the grounds in his last, so a repeat versus easier came as no surprise

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Four pacers in to be claimed and two in on a condition were featured at Cal Expo on Saturday night (December 17) in the Cliff Shurman Memorial, in which Marlin Hanover won his third in the last four.

Leaving from Post 1, driver Luke Plano took a look to his right and saw he had company, which meant he had some work to do.

"I would have preferred to come away first or second as opposed to third," said Plano. "So when I saw Western So [and Anthony Succarotte] and Hi Ho Hi Ho [with Tim Maier] leaving, I pushed a bit to make one of them take back."

Yielding to Hi Ho Hi Ho after an eighth of a mile for the pocket into a :28.2 opening quarter, Plano was fine with where he was with three-quarters of a mile to go, or was he?

"I was content at that moment, but Tim slowed down with Hi Ho Hi Ho, so based off of my horse’s current sharp form I figured I'd go to the front and take my chances from there."

Getting the lead just past the three-eighths mile station, Plano took a hold of his four-year-old, which allowed the pacer to get a soft :30 second-quarter into a :58.3 first-half. Being rated in the third-quarter with the nose of Hi Ho Hi Ho on his helmet, Plano had good logic to urge his charge a few times at the five-eighths mile pole.

"I had my own way up to that point and thought it was time to get in gear. If my horse was good enough they'd have a hard time catching him."

Continuing to urge his gelding into a 1:28.1 three-quarters, Plano soon asked for more with an eighth of a mile to go.

"When Hi Ho Hi Ho pulled out of the pocket, I urged my horse and he responded and paced away."

Drawing clear when urged, Marlin Hanover clearly held firm to win ($3.80) by 1-3/4 lengths. Owned by Richard Morita and David Yamada, the Liberio Pacheco-trained pacer stopped the timer at 1:56. Hi Ho Hi Ho was a good second and Ivegotwhatuneed (Lemoyne Svendsen) finished one length farther back in third.

"He was strong to the wire, and strong in the race," finished Plano, who won half of the 12 races.

Cal Expo will be dark for live harness racing through the Christmas holiday. Live racing resumes on Friday (December 30) at 6 p.m. (PST) and continues on Saturday (December 31) with a special 5 p.m. early New Year’s Eve post-time.

(Cal Expo)