Spender Hanover won the $10,000 Open Pace in a season’s best 1:55 at Buffalo Raceway Saturday night (April 7)
. The win was the fourth this season for Spender Hanover, whose mile time is the fastest at the meet this year.
Spender Hanover ($16.20), dismissed by the bettors at 7-1, and driven by last year’s meet leader Jack Flanigen, settled in fourth from post three as eventual second place finisher Cam Patch (Shawn Gray) cut all the fractions in the race, :27.1, :55, and 1:25.
Although Spender Hanover was shuffled back to fifth, at the top of the stretch the torrid early fractions took their toll on the leaders, and he used the passing lane and a :29.3 last quarter-mile to win by a head at the wire. Mark It On Ice (John Cummings Jr.) came in the show spot.
The six-year-old Cams Card Shark gelding out of the Rustler Hanover mare Special Beauty is trained by Don Rothfuss and owned by Howard M. Ouriel of Rochester New York. The $5,000 share of the winning purse put Spender Hanover’s season bankroll at $23,034 and lifetime earnings at $191,403.
(With files from Buffalo Raceway)