Lexus Kody became the first Ontario-sired trotter to break the 1:50 barrier on Saturday, Aug. 3 at The Meadowlands during the 2024 Hambletonian Day undercard.
After working to clear Asteroid (Tim Tetrick) to make the lead in the $83,333 Vincennes Trot, Lexus Kody and Yannick Gingras posted a :27.2 opening quarter and then yielded to Pretender (Dexter Dunn) down the backside. That pocket position was brief, as Gingras right-lined Lexus Kody to retake the lead through a :54.4 half. Posting a back half in :55, Lexus Kody opened up on his rivals hit the wire in 1:49.4 for the open-length score over Asteroid and Delayed Hanover (James MacDonald).
Bred in Ontario by Norm Dunstan, Lexus Kody (Archangel - Lexus Helios) is trained by Ron Burke for Burke Racing Stable LLC of Fredericktown, Pa., Weaver Bruscemi LLC of Canonsburg, Pa. and Phillip Collura of Mountain Top, Pa. The six-year-old picked up his 24th career win, paying $3.60, while lifting his career bankroll to $571,294
Oakwood Ardan IR Delivers In Hambo Day Preferred Pace
Oakwood Ardan IR picked up a Hambo Day victory in the $69,444 Preferred Pace with Andy McCarthy driving for trainer Robert Cleary.
A field scratched down to nine went to the gate and Andy McCarthy had the 6-5 favourite forwardly placed early on before being flushed out of third rounding the final turn. Oakwood Ardan IR kept on coming to collar the leading Act Fast (Todd McCarthy) in deep stretch and hold off the pylon-skimming Maximus Miki (Andy Miller), with Coaches Corner (Jason Bartlett) flying late outside to edge Act Fast for third in the tight finish.
Owned by Ohio's Royal Wire Products Inc., the five-year-old Sweet Lou-Trend Setter gelding stopped the clock in 1:48.2 and returned $4.40 to win.
Oakwood Ardan IR, now nine-for-11 this year, notched his 20th career win and went over the $200,000 mark in earnings.
Supernova Hanover Shines Brightest In Muscle Hill
Sitting seventh on the rail at the first quarter, Dexter Dunn found a seam for Supernova Hanover ($34.20) along the pylons down the backside in the $69,444 Muscle Hill for three-year-old trotters. When Cabellero (Tim Tetrick) made a break while advancing second over, Dunn slid out into the outer flow after a 1:23.1 third quarter and Supernova Hanover exploded home with a :28.1 final quarter to pick off Sir Pinocchio (Jason Bartlett) for the lifetime best 1:51.3 score. Big Ben Pellini S (Ake Svanstedt) completed the top trio.
Trained by Per Engblom, Supernova Hanover (Greenshoe - Starita) is owned by Engblom Stable LLC of Wrightstown, N.J., Douglas Sipple of Georgetown, De. and Mal And Janet Burroughs LLC of Washington Twp, N.J. That's the third win in 13 appearances, lifting earnings to $99,851.
Svanstedt Trotting Fillies Sweep Continentalvictory Stakes
After weather wreaked havoc on the Hambletonian eve card last night, the sun was shining and the track was fast for the start of the Hambletonian Day stakes extravaganza just past noon.
The Ake Svanstedt trainee Upallnight Hanover and driver Dexter Dunn opened the 16-race card with a 1:51 score in the first of two $41,667 divisions of the Continentalvictory Stakes after watching a trio of three-year-old trotting fillies trade turns on the lead and lunging late off cover to defeat 3-5 favourite Emoji Hanover (James MacDonald), who was parked at the start and had progressed to the lead down the backstretch. Chaparmbro (Scott Zeron) and the winner's stablemate, Senorita Palema (Svanstedt), who both made brief appearances on the front-end early, finished third and fourth, respectively.
Upallnight Hanover paid $8.20 to win as the 3-1 second choice.
The roan filly by Bar Hopping out of Upfront Obs Janet knocked more than two seconds off her lifetime mark as she followed up a victory in the Tompkins-Geers Stakes on July 20 for back-to-back Meadowlands victories. Upallnight Hanover improved her record to 5-4-2 from 14 starts with her bankroll nearing $200,000 for the Florida-based Journey Horses Inc.
Svanstedt and Dunn completed a sweep of the Continentalvictory, with Slip Sliding Away trotting by the 6-5 front-striding favourite, Sister Mary Maude (Joe Bongiorno), in the stretch for a 25-1 upset in 1:53.2.
Sister Mary Maude had looped to the lead after the opening panel and started to gain some separation on the rest of the field, but Slip Sliding Away was stalking from fourth then took aim off the final turn as her cover took a two-hole tuck and slid away down the lane. St Pauli Girl (Tim Tetrick) closed from well back to nab the runner-up role over Sister Mary Maude.
Slip Sliding Away returned $53.20 to her backers for a $2 win ticket.
A Svanstedt homebred, the Father Patrick filly out of multiple Grand Circuit stakes winner Ice Attraction is owned by Marvin And Lynn Katz of Toronto, Ont., and Al Libfeld of Pickering, Ont. She established a new lifetime mark winning for the fourth time in 14 career starts while pushing her earnings to nearly $175,000.
(Standardbred Canada)