Close to 4,000 people attended Dream Of Glory day at Hanover Raceway and the three-year-old Agusto showed he was the best in the eighth annual Dream Of Glory final.
Going into the $100,000 race, Agusto went off as the 7-5 favourite after winning the fastest of the four elimination races in 1:58.2 last week.
Despite starting from Post 6 and having two of his inside neighbours go off stride at the start of the race, Agusto jumped out to the lead thanks to the steering of Steve Byron, and cruised to the quarter in a comfortable :29 seconds. Anahar Buster, trained and driven by Paul Walker, got away second, while Riina Rekila-driven B Cor Tanya had the rail, and got away third. It stayed that way for much of the mile, until Rekila pulled on the right lines after the :59.4 half and gave Anahar Buster a run for his money for second place past three-quarters in 1:28.2. However, Anahar Buster was just a bit too strong and managed to finish second by a head and just one length behind Agusto. The time of the mile was 1:58.2.
After the race, winning driver Steve Byron said trainer John Bax told him that the son of Angus Hall had a good training week and was ready for the final. He added, once he got down to the quarter pole and saw how spread out the field was, he was comfortable controlling the pace.
Agusto is owned by Bob Anderson of St. Thomas and Ron and Gwen Bowman of Nobel, Ont. His fifth win in 13 seasonal starts and sixth of his career pushed his earnings over the $100,000 mark.
Striking Ty and driver Doug McNair won the $12,000 consolation in 2:03.2 for trainer Gregg McNair and owner/breeder Kenneth Sommer of Sheffield, Ohio. The Striking Sahbra gelding front-stepped his way to a three and three-quarter length score over Jack In Action (Ryan Holliday) and Mind Over Money (Stuart Sowerby).
The win was his third in 13 tries lifting his bankroll to $24,286.
Live racing returns to Hanover on Wednesday night with 11 races, and the Ontario Sires Stakes two-year-old pacing fillies hit the Hanover 1/2 mile track on Saturday, August 8th. Post time is 7:15 p.m.
To view Saturday's harness racing results, click here.
(With files from Hanover Raceway)