James 'Friday' Dean, trainer of Panther Hanover, has gone on the record regarding the competitive nature of the 2012 Glamour Boy division. A different colt has been stepping forth with a big effort week after week, and now the sport's top three-year-old pacers are set to mix it up in the Breeders Crown eliminations this Saturday at Woodbine Racetrack.

It is not just Dean and racing's loyal followers that have taken note of the parity between the division's high-powered performers. Woodbine's morning-line oddsmaker was handed a challenging task in trying to configure the early odds for Panther Hanover's eight-horse 'Crown' elimination (Race 6, 9:15 p.m.).

Having not recorded a charted mile since September 8 at Mohawk Racetrack, it looks like Panther Hanover (PP7, S. Filion, 5-1) will be in an all-out dogfight to advance from his elim and gain entrance to the final.

Assessed at 5-1 early, Dean's son of Rocknroll Hanover has been placed mid-pack in terms of the morning line. Pet Rock, who will start from Post 5 with driver Brian Sears, has been installed as the 7-2 morning-line choice. What may speak to the parity even more is the fact that Escape The News --- a pacer that has been clocked sub-1:50 that will be making his first start for new trainer Ron Burke --- is the longest shot on the morning line at 8-1.

In an interview with the Woodbine Entertainment Group, Dean explained the reason for 'Panther's hiatus.

"Well, I had him in to go (last) Saturday night, but his blood wasn't 100 per cent, so we didn't want to race him and jeopardize our chances in the elims, so we ended up schooling him and he went well, given the weather conditions."

Dean also discussed the fact that they weren't able to get a real tightener into the colt prior to the elims, simply stating, "Yeah, it would've been nice to race, but it just wasn't going to happen."

The other Crown elim for the Glamour Boys has been cared as Race 10 (10:38 p.m.). As a further testament to the current depth of this three-year-old group, a couple of the high-octane colts that Dean praised in his WEG interview aren't even competing against his charge in Race 6, as they will be taking to the Woodbine stage in Race 10

"Sweet Lou (PP5, D. Palone, 2-1) raced big last week in Lexington and Casie's colt (Michaels Power - PP1, S. Zeron, 5-2) has been good all year," said Dean, who later added that "…there are a lot of good horses, and it should be quite a race."