It was a very proud moment for Andre Nared, the trainer of Cody Hanover, who captured the $35,000 Tom Tharps Memorial Series in a lifetime-best 1:51 mile on Sunday (April 3) at Miami Valley.

“I’ve aimed this horse for this race ever since I saw the advertisement for it months ago,” Nared said. “Tom Tharps is my grandpa and I admired him a lot. I probably wouldn’t be in the horse business if it wasn’t for him.”

Nared has had much success with Cody Hanover, since he started training him for owner Lionel Watiker early this year. In six starts under Nared’s tutelage, the five-year-old son of Dragon Again has now recorded four wins and two seconds good for 2022 earnings of $55,000. 

On this occasion, regular driver Dan Noble decided to gun the winner directly from the seven-hole start to the lead. He set moderate first half fractions of :27.3 and :56.3, then turned on the jets in the second half of :56 to hold all challengers at bay in 1:51. JK Going West put in a mild bid to finish second, while No Free Lunch rode the pylons the entire way to earn the third place payday.

Cody Hanover paid $8.80 to win while the exacta returned $34.60 to those who combined the two favourites.

A final pair of preliminary divisions of the Omar Hiteman Memorial Series were also presented on Sunday to determine the finalists for the $25,000 championship next week. Winners were heavy favorites ELs Rocket (Mike Peterson, $2.80) and Big Fritz (Cameron McCown, $4.40). That twosome will be joined by other top money winners in the series: Rockin Sandsave, The Mad King, Seaside Way, Red Camo, Hoosier Hypnotic, DLs Hard Cider, Bettor By Seaside and Some High Dreamer. Due to a tie for ninth place in the final standings, the final will be a ten-horse race if all who qualified enter.

Racing resumes Monday (April 4) with a 4:05 p.m. (EDT) post time at Miami Valley.

(Miami Valley Raceway)