O'Brien Award finalist State Treasurer earned the first victory of his six-year-old campaign in the $34,000 Preferred Pace featured on-track during Saturday's Fireworks and Family Fun Night at Mohawk Racetrack.
Driven by Chris Christoforou, last year's Molson Pace and Allerage champion journeyed first over to win his third start of the season in sub-1:50 fashion. The 4-5 favourite returned $3.90 to his backers at the betting windows.
Apprentice Hanover (Jody Jamieson) persisted from the outside post nine in his quest for early lead, clearing ahead of Evenin Of Pleasure (Sylvain Filion) through a :26.4 first quarter. Push Back (Mario Baillargeon) then swept around the top two down the backstretch and reached the half in :55. At that point, Christoforou had made his move with State Treasurer from fifth and they progressed up on even terms with the leader by the 1:22.4 third quarter mark. State Treasurer began to edge ahead coming into the stretch and prevailed by one length in 1:49.4. Evening Of Pleasure maneuvered between horses to come on for second at the inside while Nickle Bag (Jack Moiseyev) rallied from the backfield to grab third-place honours over Piston Broke (Trevor Henry), who closed off the winner's cover.
The son of Real Desire is trained by Dr. Ian Moore for owners Sally MacDonald, Souris of P.E.I. and Paul MacDonald of Toronto, Ont. The win was his 22nd and pushed his lifetime earnings to $982,420.
In other action, North America Cup eligible Pierce Hanover won his sophomore debut in a $20,000 conditioned race, rallying off cover in :27-seconds to hit the wire in a career-best 1:51.2 with Jody Jamieson aboard. The 2-5 favourite's winning margin was two lengths, with older pacers Closing Credits (Rick Zeron) and Naked City (Paul MacDonell) completing the top three finishers.
Owned by Ralph Sucee and trainer Ken Sucee, Pierce Hanover is among the top 10 ranked colts in Trot Magazine's 2015 Pepsi North America Cup Spring Book, assessed at odds of 22-1. The son of Cams Card Shark banked over $123,000 last year and scored a 1:52.1 victory in his Governor's Cup elimination defeating divisional champion Artspeak, who also won his season's debut tonight at The Meadowlands with a 1:49 mile in a New Jersey Sires Stakes.
To view Saturday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Saturday Results - Mohawk Racetrack.