Any win in harness racing feels good, but Frank Glessner’s win Friday at The Meadows was especially sweet. When he guided Maveric Hanover home in a non-winners of one race trotting event, it was his first winning drive since March 9, 1999, a period of nearly 13 years
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It wasn’t that Glessner, a member of the original Meadows colony when the track opened in 1963, was trying on the track and failing. He is largely retired from training and driving and has worked in recent years as a back-up starter and on-call blacksmith in the paddock. But that changed when he acquired Maveric Hanover, a four-year-old Cantab Hall-Mystic Comer gelding, who was unraced at two and three.
Glessner, who also conditions Maveric Hanover, brought the horse along slowly, giving him conservative trips in his first two starts that allowed him to learn to follow cover and pass horses. That experience paid off Friday when Maveric Hanover moved second over and brushed late to score by three-quarters of a length in 2:00.1.
The gelding likely will race next in another non-winners of one conditioner, since his career earnings fall just below the typical limit for such races, so expect to see Glessner in the winner's circle again soon.
(The Meadows)