Matt Kakaley hopes to make a memorable year with Dorsoduro Hanover even better.
Dorsoduro Hanover, trained by Ron Burke, is the 3-1 morning line favourite for Saturday’s $530,000 Breeders Crown final for three-year-old male pacers at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono. The 30-year-old Kakaley, who is among the leading drivers at Pocono, will enter the night aiming for his first Breeders Crown trophy. The duo will start from Post 1 in the field of nine.
All 12 Breeders Crown finals, with $6.4 million in total purses, will be raced Saturday at Pocono. Post time for the first race will be at 5:30 p.m. (EDT). Kakaley will drive in 10 of the 12 finals Saturday.
Dorsoduro Hanover won his Breeders Crown elimination last weekend by one and a quarter lengths over Thinkbig Dreambig in 1:50.1 over a ‘sloppy’ track. The three-year-old gelding has won nine of 17 races this year and earned $916,612. His wins include the Adios – when he delivered Burke and Kakaley their first victory in the event at Burke’s home track of the Meadows – and Pennsylvania Sire Stakes championship.
He was second in the Little Brown Jug, beaten by a neck, and in the Meadowlands Pace from Post 10.
“He’s had some close calls and a few big wins and it’s been a lot of fun,” said Kakaley, who has driven Dorsoduro Hanover in all but three of his 31 lifetime starts. “He’s had a solid season. I think he likes Pocono, too. He usually gives a good effort every time he’s at Pocono.”
Dorsoduro Hanover has won five of six starts at Pocono this year. His victory in his Breeders Crown elimination followed a second-place finish to Grand Teton in a division of the Tattersalls Pace at Lexington’s Red Mile.
“I was a little disappointed with Lexington, to be honest, because when he cleared (leader) This Is The Plan off the last turn I thought he was going to pace away and hide,” Kakaley said. “He eased up on me a little late and Grand Teton got him at the wire. But he was really good (Saturday). When Thinkbig Dreambig got to his bridle he just took off again. I was really happy with him.”
Dorsoduro Hanover’s recently-added stablemate This Is The Plan, also an elimination winner last weekend, is the 4-1 second choice in Saturday’s final. He won his elim by three and a quarter lengths over Im A Big Deal in 1:51 in his second start for the Burke stable and driver Yannick Gingras.
“He was really good,” Gingras said. “I fired him up too much in Lexington and he was loose on the lead. He was way more relaxed (Saturday) and when I called on him he was there. It is going to be an interesting final. I think there are nine horses that can win this race. It’s wide open.”
Dorsoduro Hanover is owned by Burke Racing Stable, Silva Purnel & Libby, the Weaver Bruscemi partnership, and Wingfield Five. This Is The Plan is owned by Burke Racing, Silva Purnel & Libby, Weaver Bruscemi, and Larry Karr.
Shnitzledosomethin, last year’s Breeders Crown runner-up, won the third of the three eliminations for three-year-old male pacers with David Miller in the sulky. He was three-quarters of a length better than Grand Teton in 1:51.1. It was his third win in 15 races this season for trainer Dylan Davis and owners BFJ Stable, Tom Lazzaro, Ed Gold, and Abe Basen. The colt is 12-1 on the final’s morning line.
“I’m tickled to death with him,” Davis said. “He had a little bit of a dry summer, but he seems to be turning the corner. After (second-place finishes in the Indiana Sires Stakes final and Jennas Beach Boy) that’s when we made up our minds to come. He just didn’t seem like the ‘Shnitzle’ of last year until his last three or four starts. We added lasix and that seemed to make a big difference.”
North America Cup champion Lather Up went off stride in his elimination, won by Shnitzledosomethin, but rallied to finish third and advance to the final. He is 5-1 on the morning line. Driver Montrell Teague expects Lather Up, who has won 11 of 15 races this year for owners Barbara and Gary Iles, to be better with an equipment adjustment.
“We know what (the issue) is, and we’ll figure it out for this week,” Teague said. “It is what it is. But he’s in. He went one hell of a mile, out the whole way. It can only improve. He’s capable, we know that.”
The posts for the Breeders Crown Open Pace and Trot were drawn on Tuesday to complete the fields for this Saturday's all-star card of harness racing, with $6.4 million in total purses, slated for The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono. Post time for the first race will be at 5:30 p.m. (EDT).
(Breeders Crown)