Disturbed Hanover responded to her tough as nails reputation and won the $27,027 Mares Winners Over Select Pace at Bally’s Dover on Wednesday (Jan. 24) night.

Disturbed Hanover (Barton Dalious), Jody (Allan Davis) and Feeling Sweet (Montrell Teague) all left alertly for early race position pacing towards the quarter pole. Feeling Sweet was parked three-wide and finally cleared the lead past the opening quarter in :27.1 Jody settled into the pocket and Disturbed Hanover retreated to third.

Feeling Sweet and Teague were able to throttle that speed and passed the half in :56.4, a pedestrian :29.3 quarter. Dalious and Disturbed Hanover sensed the pace was slowing and maneuvered first-over past the half. The 4-5 betting favourite, Got The Gold (Tim Tetrick), shadowed second-over and in perfect striking position on the rim. Party Cruiser (Tony Morgan) joined into the outer flow.

Disturbed Hanover eventually wore down pacesetter Feeling Sweet during a :28 panel and cleared the lead reaching the three-quarters in 1:24.4.Got The Gold angled to the pylons, saving ground for a stretch rally. Jody remained on the outside and began to charge late. Disturbed Hanover dug in late and was able to repel those challengers.

Disturbed Hanover pulled away in the stretch and won by a length and a quarter in 1:53. She paid $11.40 for the win. Jody finished second and Got The Gold settled for third.

Disturbed Hanover (Big Jim-Driven To Sin) is owned by The Wiz Kids Stable LLC of Dover, Delaware. W. Bart Dalious trains the eight-year-old mare, who notched her first victory of the season in three attempts, following a close runner-up finish in her last outing. The victory was her 28th lifetime, pushing her earnings over the $350,000 mark.

Tetrick drove four winners on the betting card.

The feature race of the week is the $37,162 Blue Hen/Open Handicap Pace on Thursday night. I Did It Myway looks to make amends for his earlier defeats. His main competition will include Energetic Hanover, Penzance Hanover and Sprocket. Racing continues on Thursday at 4:30 p.m.

(With files from Bally's Dover)