Windor, a 2025 O’Brien Award finalist, earned his first victory of the season as the sophomore gelding charged home to take a $13,000 co-featured conditioned pace at Georgian Downs on Tuesday, Aug. 11.
Trainer-driver Mike Vanderkemp dropped the gelding back to fifth as Over Bet (Mark MacDonell) led a spaced-out field through the :26.4 first panel. Seven lengths off the lead at the half in :54.4 and still well back of a loose leading pair down the backstretch, Windor began to roll going to three-quarters in 1:23. He lost the cover of Outrun The Odds (Travis Cullen) as that one slid in third entering the final turn, but the Vanderkemp trainee pressed on and tipped three-wide around the pocket-popping Probability (Scott Coulter). Windor surged down the centre of the track in the stretch, gliding past Over Bet to a 1-1/4-length victory in 1:52.3. Gansbaai (Mike Whelan) flew home from sixth for second, with Over Bet third.
Windor won the Grade 3 Champlain Stakes at two and finished second in his Ontario Sires Stakes Super Final, earning a divisional O’Brien Award finalist nod. The Bulldog Hanover-Winx gelding won for the first time this year in eight starts. He is three-for-19 lifetime and has earned $257,699 for Dianna Secord of Fergus, Ont. The win price was $2.10.
There were also two $13,000 optional-claiming events, one for each gait. Austin Sorrie stickhandled Bettor B Going through traffic in the pace for the gelding’s first victory since moving to the barn of Brett Lester. The son of Bettors Delight-Jk Letitgo took the three-hole through :27, :56.1 and 1:24.4 splits, threaded his way into the two-path on the last turn, then shook loose in the stretch and bolted to a 1:54 score by 1-1/2 lengths. Captainofrocknroll (Paul MacKenzie) flew wide from fourth-over to snag second, followed by Elliot Moose (Travis Cullen).
Bettor B Going, owned by A. Bianco Holdings Limited of Woodbridge, Ont. and trained by Lester since May 24, tallied his seventh win in 19 starts this year. He has won 31 of 154 career appearances and earned $328,075. He paid $6.50 to win.
Veteran stallion Patriarch Hanover moved closer to millionaire status with a 1:56 win in the trotting co-feature. The son of Father Patrick-Personal Style slid in fifth to the quarter in :28.4, took a second-over tow through the half in :59 and three-quarters in 1:27.1, then pulled three-high as the cover stalled and bore down on pacesetter Insanity (Scott Coulter), catching him by three-quarters of a length. Fireinsidemyveins (Samuel Fillion) finished third.
The victory for Patriarch Hanover came in his first start for trainer Jodie Cullen and owner A1stable of Dundas, Ont. His career bankroll now totals $984,430, and he has won 35 times in 218 outings. He returned $2.60 in his fourth win from 26 starts on the campaign.
To view Tuesday’s harness racing results, click the following link: Tuesday Results - Georgian Downs.
(Standardbred Canada; photo of Windor winning on Sept. 6, 2025)