Following a class-dropping score last week, trainer Chris Lancaster's Georgia Hanover tackled the Preferred distaffers at Century Mile on Friday, Oct. 23.

Sent postward as the 2-1 favourite in the $12,000 Fillies & Mares Preferred 2 Handicap, Georgia Hanover and driver Phil Giesbrecht left from post seven and followed in third behind the inside leavers through opening panels of :27.1 and :57 before meeting pacesetter Arrhythmic Dream (Brandon Campbell) at the 1:25 third quarter mark as they turned for the stretch drive showdown. As they battled down the lane, Georgia Hanover kept on coming and wore down Arrhythmic Dream, drawing two lengths clear at the end of the 1:54.1 mile over the "good" track. Mademechangemymind (Nathan Sobey) closed off the winner's cover to nab second place ahead of Arrhythmic Dream.

Lancaster has campaigned the four-year-old Captaintreacherous-Get Lucky mare to earnings of $106,054 in 38 career starts. Unraced as a two-year-old, Georgia Hanover has won half a dozen races in each of her two seasons on track. She paid $6.10 to win.

Earlier on the card, Giesbrecht's sophomore Lucky Girl Hill ($2.10) continued her winning ways on Friday night and notched her sixth straight victory back in action from a week away. The 1-9 favourite in the $8,000 fourth race, a fillies and mares conditioned handicap pace, she picked up cover for the final turn then stormed by to defeat pacesetter Lets Go Gals (Blake Piwniuk) in 1:56 by three-quarters of a length after those two gals took off from the rest of the field in their own stretch duel.  

The daughter of Captain Crunch-Sarandon Blue Chip is now eight-for-10 in her debut season and missed by only a head and a neck in her two losses for trainer Gerry Hudon. Giesbrecht co-owns the streaking filly with Monica Hudon of Sturgeon County and Denise Andrew of Calgary. 

The same connections also watched sophomore filly Post Time ($3.90) go back-to-back with a 1:56.4 score in a $7,000 conditioned pace.

To view Friday's harness racing results, click the following link: Friday Results - Century Mile.

(Standardbred Canada)