The 61st season of harness racing at Hanover Raceway kicked off on Saturday, May 31, the first of 15 cards slated for 2025.
Saturday's 10-dash card featured a pair of $5,000 conditioned claiming events as the co-features. Favourites delivered in each of those dashes, with G A Speed Sammy ($4.50; pictured above) and driver Travis Henry taking the day's top class pace in a tight finish. The 10-year-old made every call a winning one for Henry and trainer-owner Courtney Bishop of Guelph, Ont., holding off E L Citadel (Jason Ryan) and Rose Run Vortex (Paul MacKenzie) each by a neck in a time of 1:59.2.
With the victory, G A Speed Sammy (Shanghai Phil - Surprise De Mars) picked up his 34th lifetime tally and third of the season. In 2024, he won just two races but had exactly three seasonal victories in each of the four seasons prior (2020-2023). Sixteen of those 34 victories came in one season -- his four-year-old season in 2019.
In the trotting co-feature, Goober Smack ($3.30) delivered on his 3-5 odds with a convincing 1:59 score. Paul MacKenzie engineered the winning effort with the homebred son of Flanagan Memory - Bluestone Muscles for trainer and co-owner Suzie Kerwood (as S&R Racing Stable) of Acton. Stonebridge Zeus (Travis Henry) bested Lilys Lass (Jeff Hunt) for runner-up honours.
Last seen in the winner's circle after his lifetime best 1:54.2 effort at Woodbine Mohawk Park in Ontario Sires Stakes action last September, Goober Smack picked up his eighth career victory and edged his lifetime bankroll closer to the $100,000 mark.
While the sample size is limited to just one card, Saturday's favourites delivered victories at a higher clip than last year's average, converting at a 60 per cent clip in Hanover's opener versus the 42.9 per cent conversion rate for public choices in 2024.
The Hanover, Ont. half-mile oval will host 14 more race days in 2025 with live racing on most Saturdays through Sept. 13, except for Aug. 9 when the annual Hanover Fair will take place. Post time will be 1:30 p.m., except for a 5:30 p.m. card on Aug. 2 during the Civic Holiday long weekend.
Hanover Raceway's signature races return in 2025, including the Dream Of Glory for developing three-year-old Ontario-sired trotters, with eliminations on July 26 and the $50,000 final scheduled for the Aug. 2 evening program that ends with a fireworks display. The Balanced Image for two-year-old Ontario-sired trotters will have eliminations on Aug. 16 with the $40,000 final to follow on Aug. 23.
Hanover will also host legs of the Ontario Sires Stakes Grassroots Series on Aug. 30 for two-year-old pacing fillies and Sept. 6 for three-year-old trotting fillies, as well as multiple Prospect Series legs.
Among this year's race day events, Hanover has planned Wiener Dog races on June 14 and Harness The Hope Day on July 12.
To view the full results from Saturday's opener, click the following link: Saturday Results - Hanover Raceway.
(Standardbred Canada)