One year ago, Yursa Hanover came within inches of providing longtime Quebec owner Richard Berthiaume with his biggest victory in the $700,000 Bree
ders Crown
final for two-year-old trotting fillies at The Meadowlands. Honorable Daughter caught her on the last stride and won by a nose.
Saturday at Woodbine, Yursa Hanover gets another crack at the Crown, and Berthiaume likes her chances from post three with Tim Tetrick driving.
“The elimination (in which she was third to Margarita Momma) was her first race in two-and-a-half weeks,”he said. “I was very satisfied. Tim gave her her record this summer (1:53.2 at The Meadowlands). He drives her well.”
Runner-up in both the Breeders Crown and Goldsmith Maid finals last year, Yursa Hanover has hit the board in 11 of 13 starts this year and collected $252,906. Her only bad race was the $327,985 Hudson filly trot final at Yonkers, where the Windsongs Legacy filly got squeezed at the start and made a break as the 1-2 favorite.
“Why then? She almost never breaks. That was the worst luck,” said Berthiaume.
Yursa Hanover has earned $622,236 in two years, and a top-two finish in Saturday’s $600,000 final would make her the richest horse ever owned by Berthiaume, one of Quebec’s most successful owners in harness racing.
The best so far has been his retired Quebec-bred trotting mare Cavaliere Accent, who made $724,550.
(A Trot Insider Exclusive by Paul Delean)