An exciting afternoon of racing was exactly what the doctor ordered for fans of Hanover Raceway. After a week off for the virtual Hanover Fall Fair, fans were eager for harness racing action and clearly Doug McNair was happy to return as well.
The top driver at Hanover Raceway and the leading dash winning driver in Canada, McNair was on a mission on Saturday (August 15), winning seven out of 10 races. McNair began his winning ways in the second race with Gregg McNair trainee Wheresjim, continued with wins in the fourth and fifth races before winning the last four races of the day.
Within that sweep of the last four dashes, McNair puched his ticket to next week's Balanced Image Final by winning an elim with Blake MacIntosh trainee Arch Hall.
Arch Hall was sent off at 2-5 and the public choice in his $5,000 elim and didn't disappoint. McNair guided Arch Hall to the front and the tandem trotted through sensible fractions of :29.4, 1:02 and 1:32.4 before sprinting home in :29.2 for the elimination victory. Harry (Paul Walker) closed well for second with Insanity (Brett MacDonald) and Hez In Contention (Aaron Byron) also qualifying for next week's Final.
Now a three-time winner from five starts, Arch Hall (Archangel - Mon Amour Hall) is owned by trainer MacIntosh with Hutt Racing Stable of Malvern, Penn.
Sweet Soul David was a confident winner in his $5,000 Balanced Image elimination, trotting comfortably wire-to-wire to win as the 5-2 second choice. Driver Denis St. Pierre allowed Sweet Soul David to trot through panels of :30.1, 1:02 and 1:31.4 before asking him to trot home in :29 and hold off 4-5 choice Imextraspecial (Paul Walker) to win by three-parts of a length in a lifetime best 2:00.4. Lifelong Wish (Trevor Henry) and Rocketing (Bob McClure) finished third and fourth respectively to punch their tickets into next week's $50,000 Balanced Image Final.
Co-breeder Pat Lang trains Sweet Soul David (Kadabra - A Sundae On Sunday) and co-owns the maiden-breaking gelding with Dewitt Stables of Little Britain, Paul Kleinpaste of Orangeville and Garth Bechtel of Meaford, Ont.
Top two-year-old trotters will battle for a purse of $50,000 and the title of Balanced Image Trot champion in one week's time. The post position draw for the Final was conducted after the ninth race.
The $50,000 Balanced Image Trot Final
1. Rocketing
2. Hez In Contention
3. Stonebridge Armour
4. Sweet Soul David
5. Insanity
6. Lifelong Wish
7. Tymal Chrome
8. Arch Hall
AE1. Diehard Seelster
AE2. Petro Dealin
The seven wins on the card for McNair lifts his seasonal total to 163, just 17 shy of his 2019 dash-winning total.
Hanover Raceway will offer a very exciting card next week with the Balanced Image Trot Final, as well as the annual Walker Trot Invitational with a purse of $8,500. The weekly Survivor Challenge, sponsored by COSA, will be increased to $300 from the usual $100 HPI deposit pool. The Catch Driver Pick 4 will be featured in its usual spot in Race 1, with a $2,000 guarantee and low 15% takeout. COSA TV will be providing coverage of the top races on the afternoon, this broadcast can be viewed on all COSA TV social media platforms, Hanover Raceway’s regular live stream as well as the SC website.
To view the results from Saturday's card at Hanover, click the following link: Saturday Results - Hanover Raceway.
(With files from Hanover)