Third time's a charm for Emoticon Hanover. In her third Breeders Crown appearance, the four-year-old Luc Blais trainee was victorious in the $250,000 Mares Trot to kick off the 2017 championship weekend on Friday night (October 27) at Hoosier Park.
Sent off as the overwhelming 1-9 favourite in a short field scratched down to four following three consecutive stakes wins, Emoticon Hanover did not disappoint her backers with a wire-to-wire winning effort.
With the inside post advantage, Emoticon Hanover and driver Dan Dube established the lead as outsider Caprice Hill (Yannick Gingras) forged her way into the two-hole ahead of Pink Pistol (Louis-Philippe Roy) with eventual breaker Flowers N Songs (Matt Kakaley) trailing. Emotion Hanover carved out fractions of :27, :55.3 and 1:25 over the sloppy track en route to the victory in 1:53.4. Caprice Hill angled out in the stretch, but had to settle for second-place finishing three-quarters of a length behind while Pink Pistol followed back in third.
Emotion Hanover, who finished fifth and second in her prior Breeders Crown attempts, notched her 16th career win from 37 starts for owner Determination of Montreal, Que.
The millionaire Kadabra-Emmylou Who mare was bred by Ontario residents Linda Wellwood, Tammy Aspden, Anne Shunock, and Diane Ingham.
The field was reduced down to just four starters with Pasithea Face S scratched injured.
More updates on Friday's championships will be posted in the 2017 Breeders Crown News Centre.