The breakout party for Allywag Hanover continued on Saturday (Sept. 18) at Woodbine Mohawk Park as the Brett Pelling trainee put forth another forceful mile to leave his peers in the dust of a 1:48.1 mile to win the $100,000 Mohawk Gold Cup Invitational.
Fresh from a 2-3/4-length victory in the $590,000 Canadian Pacing Derby, Allywag Hanover went to the front and never looked back. Clicking the first quarter in :27, he strolled to a :55 half as Enavent pulled first over to challenge to the final turn. But the flames kept burning on the point with Allywag Hanover chugging along to three-quarters in 1:21.3 and expanding his lead on the field from there. The four-year-old Captaintreacherous gelding won drawing away from Enavant in second, with Warrawee Vital gaining ground off a pylon trip to take third and Sintra surviving a parked mile to snag fourth.
“He’s developed a new dimension where he can leave and really carry his speed,” Brett Pelling said after the race. “He looks like there’s really no quitting – he’s loving it right now. He’s effortless, just travels over the ground so well. I think Todd [McCarthy] fits him great, but his gate speed now – he’s putting himself in the race every time.”
Owned by Allywag Stable, Allywag Hanover has won eight races from 15 starts this year, five of which have come in his last six starts. The near millionaire landed on the big stage Meadowlands Pace night with a 1:47.1 victory in a $265,400 William Haughton Memorial division and has chalked victories since.
“Earlier in the year when we were racing in the Graduate Series with the four-year-olds, there were five or six of them that were absolutely amazing,” Pelling also said. “There were a couple of weeks there I thought I would be filling fields, but he learned to leave, learned to be close, and he’s just developed. He’s done really well.”
A winner now from 16 of 37 starts, Allywag Hanover has banked $945,945. Millionaire status could be in the gelding’s grasp with several season-end championships still to come.
“He’s got the TVG, the Breeders Crown. We may take him down to Kentucky for the one run,” Pelling said. “But there’s a few races left, and he’s still young. He’s definitely going to come back at five. That was my first Gold Cup, I’d like for him to be my second as well.”
The Mohawk Gold Cup was part of a stakes-packed program at Woodbine Mohawk Park headlined by the Canadian Trotting Classic. Read all the recaps in the Mohawk Saturday Stakes News Centre.