When the Grand Circuit went to Lexington, Shadyshark Hanover went on hiatus. The two-year-old colt pacer took time away from the races following his second-place finish to Big Jim in the $600,000 Breeders Crown
at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs on October 9. Trainer Erv Miller hopes the respite leads to a win in the upcoming C$709,000 Governor’s Cup at Woodbine Racetrack.
“It was just our plan to miss [Lexington] if he was going to go to Canada,” Miller said. “We wanted to keep him good and fresh for up there. He’s a big colt and we don’t want to give him too many starts this year. He should be as fresh as any horse going into the race. He seems real good right now, real healthy.
“Hopefully, he’s in for a piece. He’s been racing sharp. We just need a little bit of luck.”
The top five Breeders Crown finishers were among 11 horses entered in the Governor’s Cup. Big Jim received a bye based on earnings, leaving 10 horses to race on Saturday for nine spots in the November 6 final.
Joining Shadyshark Hanover in the elimination race are Breeders Crown third, fourth and fifth-place finishers Fashion Delight, Foreclosure N, and Westwardho Hanover, as well as Arsenal, Prana, Mickey Hanover, Rollwithitharry, Ohmygosh Hanover, and Risk Management.
Big Jim and Foreclosure N have not raced since the Breeders Crown. Fashion Delight was second to Feel Like A Fool in an International Stallion Stakes division at Lexington’s Red Mile on October 23. Westwardho Hanover was second to Rollwithitharry in a Bluegrass Stakes division at The Red Mile on October 16. Prana was second to Feel Like A Fool in another Bluegrass division. Risk Management had fourth-place finishes in divisions of both the International Stallion and Bluegrass. Arsenal, who lost by a neck to Shadyshark Hanover in a division of the Nassagaweya Stakes at Mohawk Racetrack on August 23, raced Monday in an overnight at Woodbine, finishing second.
Shadyshark Hanover has won three of 10 races and finished second on four occasions. He has earned $335,082 for owners Miller, John Fielding, Richard Strachan, and Ron Michelon.
The colt, a son of Cams Card Shark-Shady Past, was purchased as a yearling for $90,000 at the Standardbred Horse Sale. He is a full brother to hard-knocking older pacer Sharky Osborne, who has earned $796,691 in his eight-season career, and is a half brother to Shaky Hanover, who was last season’s New York Sire Stakes two-year-old championship runner-up.
“He can leave, he can come from the back,” Miller said. “He’s real easy to manage in the barn. He takes care of himself good and keeps his weight up good. He’s got a good sprint on the end of it.”
Shadyshark Hanover has been worse than second only once in his last six races. He finished sixth in his Metro Pace elimination race and failed to reach the million-dollar final, although he did come back to win the $96,000 consolation event.
“In the Metro [elimination] he never got into the race,” Miller said about Shadyshark Hanover, who was in seventh place, 11 lengths behind the leader, at the halfway point. “That was one of those nights the front end held up real good. He couldn’t get into the race at all.”
Following the Metro, Shadyshark Hanover was second to Big Jim in a Champlain Stakes division on September 11 at Mohawk. He took a three-week break and returned for the Breeders Crown eliminations on October 1 at Pocono Downs. He won his elim in a then-track-record 1:51 and was second to Big Jim in the final despite being stuck on the outside the entire mile.
“He raced really good in the elim,” Miller said. “When he came home, he closed up very strong. In the final, the performance was great, but he had a tough trip. The way it ended up, he was started and stopped many times in the race and he was parked the whole mile. It was just a tough trip, but he showed good pace on the end of it.”
Miller hopes the lighter workload this year helps Shadyshark Hanover return strong in 2011. He said the horse reminds him of one of his former stars, Shark Gesture, who won the Breeders Crown as a three-year-old in 2006.
“He’s not quite as tall as Shark Gesture, but he’s strong like that horse was,” Miller said. “Maybe he’ll come back better with us taking it easy on him as a two-year-old. He seems like that kind of horse.”
Here is a look at the field in post position order for the Governor’s Cup elimination. The top nine finishers advance to the final, where they will be joined by Breeders Crown champion Big Jim, who received a bye based on earnings:
1. Arsenal
2. Westwardho Hanover
3. Prana
4. Mickey Hanover
5. Rollwithitharry
6. Ohmygosh Hanover
7. Foreclosure N
8. Shadyshark Hanover
9. Fashion Delight
10. Risk Management
This story courtesy of Harness Racing Communications, a division of the U.S. Trotting Association. For more information, visit www.ustrotting.com.