Obrigado successfully out-duelled Resolve to defend his title in the $193,000 Crawford Farms Open Trot while top trotting mare Hannelore Hanover surpassed the million-dollar mark in career earnings with a a strong victory in the co-featured $170,000 Muscle Hill on Friday night (August 26) at Vernon Downs.
Mark MacDonald drove Obrigado to a career-best 1:51.2 victory in the Crawford Farms Open Trot for trainer and co-owner Paul Kelley.
Musical Rhythm fired across the track from post nine to take the lead first before the turn into a :26 quarter, but his lead was short-lived as 1-4 favourite Resolve quickly swept to command. Obrigado was following hot on his heels and took over at the :55.1 half-mile mark. However, Resolve moved right back out with JL Cruze looming to his outside and regained a short lead as they raced past three-quarters in 1:23.4. Obrigado fought back around the final turn and the battle continued down the stretch with the defending Crawford champion ultimately persevering over Resolve by a quarter-length in 1:51.2. Flanagan Memory came flying late on the far outside to finish third over JL Cruze.
"It was really kind of almost a replay of last year's race in a lot of ways -- maybe a different cast of characters, but it was the same kind of battle," noted Kelley after the race. "My horse went almost an identical type of trip.
"I've been doing this too long and you never envision how it's going to go," he added. "We made a little subtle bridle change with him, but outside of that, you just never know how it's going to go."
The six-year-old Boy Band-Malimony gelding has earned top-three finishes in 11 of his 12 starts this year while banking over $535,000. He boasts stakes wins in the Maxie Lee, Charlie Hill, Cleveland Trotting Classic, and now Crawford Farms Open among his five seasonal victories. The $1.2 million career earner is owned by Paul Kelley Racing Stable, SRF Stable, Linwood Higgins, and Stable 45.
"He's a great horse. We're very, very luck to have him," said Kelley, noting the countless hours Obrigado's caretaker, second trainer and blacksmith spend with the talented trotter. "But the horse is just a great animal. He takes care of himself and if he gets beat one week, it doesn't matter -- he comes back, he shows up, he just always tries."
Kelley confirmed that Obrigado's next stakes assignment will be the Maple Leaf Trot at Mohawk Racetrack where he could face potential supplemental entry Hannelore Hanover.
"She's a great mare, she just put on a hell of a performance," said Kelley of Hannelore Hanover. "It's great for harness racing to see a great mare like that. So, you know, if we have to face her, that'll be great."
Just prior to the Crawford, Hannelore Hanover added the Muscle Hill to her impressive stakes resume that includes victories in the Miami Valley Distaff, Armbro Flight, Miss Versatility Series, Hambletonian Maturity and Fresh Yankee.
Driver Yannick Gingras pointed the heavy 2-5 favourite Hannelore Hanover towards the front leaving the gate from post seven and she progressed to the lead through a :27.1 first quarter, clearing Barn Doll as they headed into the backstretch. While Hannelore Hanover trotted past the half-mile mark in :57, Shake It Cerry moved underway from fifth. However, Hannelore Hanover opened up two and a half lengths en route to the 1:24.4 third quarter mark and continued to draw away from her rivals down the lane to score in 1:51.3 by nearly four lengths. Shake It Cerry overtook Barn Doll for the runner-up honours.
Hannelore Hanover's winning time was a new track record for four-year-old trotting mares, shaving two-fifths of a second off Maven's mark set in the 2014 edition of the Muscle Hill.
"I was a little bit worried at the half, she looked like she was maybe on a loose line," said trainer Ron Burke. "But you can't tell with her until Yannick asks her, and as soon as he started to ask her, it pretty well looked like she was wrapped up so I was very happy."
Burke indicated Hannelore Hanover's next assignment could be against the male division.
"We might find out after watching the next division," he said prior to the Crawford Farms Open Trot. "We might supplement to race in Canada and see if she can go with them...maybe she deserves that chance. It's a favourite track for her -- she loves the seventh-eighths mile track, that's what she grew up racing the first two years on [at Hoosier Park] so it might be the move for her."
Hannelore Hanover now boasts a near-perfect 13-for-14 seasonal record with her annual income climbing over $700,000. Lifetime, the four-year-old daughter of Swan For All and High Sobriety has banked $1,007,258 for owners Burke Racing Stable LLC, Weaver Bruscemi LLC, and Frank Baldachino.
A pair of $50,000-plus New York Sire Stakes divisions on the undercard were won by a pair of undefeated two-year-old pacing colts, including Crawford Farms Racing's Funknwaffles. Jim Morrill Jr. drove the American Ideal-Hatsoff Hanover gelding, named after a Syracuse breakfast cafe, to a career-best 1:52.1 victory. John Butenschoen trains Funknwaffles, who now boasts six straight wins, including three Excelsior Series splits and three Sire Stakes divisions.
Emerald Highlands Farm's homebred colt Major Moe made his Sire Stakes debut a winning one and lowered his lifetime mark to 1:52.4 in his third consecutive victory for trainer Chris Ryder. Scott Zeron catch-drove the Art Major colt, who is out of the $292,000-earning mare Maureen Rocks that he drove five years ago.