Uncle Hanover went to the front and didn’t look back en route to a sharp score in Saturday’s $9,000 feature race at Tioga Downs.
Uncle Hanover ($11.80) threw down fractions of :28.2, :57.1 and 1:26 before kicking home in :29.4 to win in 1:55.4. Icanflylikeanangel (Corey Braden) followed in the pocket all the way to the middle of the stretch, he pulled from the pocket and went all out, but fell short and settled for second best. Tropical Trice (Mike Merton) finished third.
Uncle Hanover, who hangs his harness bag in the barn of trainer Barry Probber, is a six-year-old gelding by Muscle Hill who is owned by Probber Morse Racing LLC and Unity Stable. It was the fifth win of the season and the 16th to date for the pacer.
The beauty of the Billings Amateur Driving Series is that its a traveling program where the competitors get a chance to exhibit their abilities on different size racetracks throughout the nine month season.
After a hard fought battle, “Coach Paul” Minore and his veteran trotter, Wygant Prince, withheld a late charge by Aventure and driver “Tough Tony” Ciuffetelli and to score a 1:57.3 victory.
Overlooked by the attending public Wygant Prince paid $25.40 for win.
When the six-horse field was approaching the starting line the rail horse and even-money favourite, Fleet Honeybee (“Yankee Joe” Lee), went off-stride and was never in contention thereafter.
When the mobile gate sprung Wygant Prince, racing from the two-hole, allowed (#6) Uriel and “Annie Get Your Gun” Stoebe, to gain command in the 28-second first quarter.
When all the trotters lined up in single file Wygant Prince got to enjoy a two hole journey until the field headed to the third stanza. As the leaders rounded the final turn Minore kept his charge along the pylons and rallied past Uriel. He then braced for the hard-charging Aventure. In the deep stretch, Wygant Prince and Aventure were stride for stride but at the finish Minore's trotter got the last call for a head victory. Uriel finished two lengths behind the top two for third money.
The winner, an 11-year-old altered son of SJs Photo, notched his sixth seasonal triumph and 37th of his illustrious career while raising his career earnings to over $411,000.
Wygant Price is owned by his driver and trained by Taylor Gower.
Fern Paquet, Jr. and Kyle DiBenedetto each won two races on the night.
Paquet, Jr. won with Bashful Strike ($18.00) and Zoraze ($9.70). DiBenedetto got his wins with Moolah Moolah ($23.80) and Explosive Drama ($6.90).
Tioga Downs returns to live racing with a 13-race card on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
(With files from Tioga Downs and CKG Billings Series)