Passmaster Hanover In NJ Classic; Muscle Hill One Of Seven For Sears

Passmaster Hanover shook loose late to win the $500,000 SBOA/Anthony Abbatiello New Jersey

Classic for three-year-old colt pacers, the headliner on a million-dollar night for state-bred horses, Saturday at the Meadowlands Racetrack.

Driver Tim Tetrick and Passmaster Hanover assumed command at the quarter and made 3-5 favourite Dial Or Nodial work hard to clear the lead in a torrid :53.4 half. Dial Or Nodial gave way under pressure from Vintage Master in mid-stretch, allowing Passmaster Hanover to squeeze by and take the seventh race feature in a career best 1:50.2. Vintage Master [$10.60, $3.20] was a head behind in second.

The lightly raced son of Cams Card Shark-Panned Out improved his record to five wins in seven career starts for trainer Blair Burgess and owners Brittany Farms of Versailles, Kentucky and Jeff Snyder of New York, New York. A $250,000 yearling purchase, Passmaster Hanover [$6.00, $4.20, $2.40] is eligible to the $1 million Meadowlands Pace on July 18.

"The fans bet him down pretty hard [2-1 second choice]," Burgess said. "It seems like he earned some respect from last week [winning his NJ Classic elim]. I thought he had to get brave somewhere in the mile. He still needs that. He's not ready for three moves yet. He had that chance to get brave on the last turn and responded when he got enough room. You win this race and it's close to the best [horses] that you're going to meet. I think he belongs with them."

Dial Or Nodial [$2.10] held third, finishing just a half-length behind Passmaster Hanover.

"It's not his best game coming first over, and moving him to the front took him off his game," driver Brian Sears said of Dial Or Nodial. "I used him too much and he knew it."

Despite missing the biggest check of the night with Dial Or Nodial in the New Jersey Classic, driver Brian Sears reined in a pair of stakes winners for a total of seven on the card.

It marked the second time this season Sears bagged seven winners on the card. He accomplished the feat on February 16, 2009.

Sears rallied Showherthemoney [$6.40, $3.60, $2.90] off a second tier trip to take the $175,000 SBOA/Thomas D'Altrui Miss New Jersey for fillies in 1:50.4. McGibson [$6.60, $4.40] benefited from a pocket trip behind the leader Dawns Legacy to finish second, while Scarlet McZara nabbed the show spot in the fifth race tilt.

Showherthemoney improved her record to five wins in 15 career starts, while trainer Bjorn "Bernie" Noren, a pupil of trotting master Jimmy Takter, scored his first stakes trophy just six months after opening his own stable. Bulletproof Enterprises of Boca Raton, Florida owns the regally bred daughter of Cams Card Shark-Stienams Place.

"We were fortunate with the draw [Post 3] and the trip, but Bernie had her really sharp tonight and it showed," Sears said. "There were pretty good numbers [fractions on the board], and she was pretty relaxed keeping up. When I got ready to call on her, I knew that we had a lot of pace and she just kicked right in."

Sears steered Muscle Hill, the early favourite for the Hambletonian, to his tenth straight win in the $200,000 New Jersey Sire Stakes Final for three-year-old trotting colts and geldings.

Muscle Hill wasted no time taking the lead from stable mate My Back Pages at the midpoint of the backstretch and drew clear to take the third race on the card in 1:53.3. The Chancellor finished four lengths behind in second and My Back Pages was third.

"The horse had great manners and it was a pretty easy trip," Sears said. "He just seems like he's a little straighter this year and he's obviously got a little more stamina."

It was the second sire stakes title for the Greg Peck trainee, who won the NJSS championship at two.

"He has no stakes race until the Stanley Dancer," Peck said of Muscle Hill's upcoming schedule. "There's five weeks now [before the Hambletonian elims], but we'll make sure to get something. He's like a thoroughbred, he can seem to come in off a layoff and that's where we're very fortunate. He's an athlete."

The son of Muscles Yankee-Yankee Blondie increased his career earnings to $944,751 for owners Jerry Silva, T L P Stable, Southwind Farm, and Muscle Hill Racing. During his champion freshman season, Muscle Hill won $817,301 and eight of nine starts, including the Breeders Crown in a world record 1:53.3 and Peter Haughton Memorial.

In the first of the evening's stakes events, Margarita Momma charged down the stretch to take the $200,000 New Jersey Sire Stakes Final for three-year-old trotting fillies.

Driver George Brennan and Margarita Momma [$6.80, $4.60, $2.20] rallied three wide around the far turn and split horses to take the night's second race in 1:55.3. The pace-setting Gabbys Dream [$4.20, $2.20] was a neck behind in second and I Wanted Wings [$2.10] finished third.

The daughter of Yankee Glide-Sheena Hall is two-for-two in 2009 and boosted her career earnings to $454,908. Jan Johnson trains and co-owns Margarita Momma with Jorgen Jahre, Jr.

To view Saturday's results, click here.

(NJSEA)