Armycaptin Hanover showed a flair for the dramatic on Saturday, Sept. 21 at The Loop, swooping by rivals for the last-stride victory in the top-class tilt.
A field of five went postward in The Loop's $7,800 Open, with Armycaptin Hanover sent postward as the 1-9 choice.
Dropped into fourth and second last early by driver Michel Rey, Armycaptain watched as second choice Litizor (Don Howlett) chopped out a :30.3 opening quarter. Rey right-lined his charge from fourth, then received overland cover from Appoggiatura (Clayton Braybrook) heading to the 1:02.1 half. Rey then right-lined again as Litizor made the third quarter in 1:33.2, not an overly taxing tempo for the frontstepper, setting up for a 400-metre sprint to the wire.
Armycaptin Hanover showed his usual final quarter brush to confront Litizor, but Paula Mason found pocket-sitter One Last Bet room to the leader's inside down the stretch to make it a three-horse calvary charge to the wire. When the judges examined the photo finish, Armycaptin Hanover was a head the best, with Litizor second and One Last Bet next best.
In a rare occurrence, the finish order was the reverse of the post positions with the top down program order of finish reading 5-4-3-2-1.
Laverne Turnbull of Kitchener, Ont. owns and Richard Rey trains Armycaptin Hanover ($2.30), an eight-year-old gelded son of Captaintreacherous - Allamerican Coed. Now with 49 lifetime victories, Armycaptin Hanover sports career earnings of more than $342,000.
For the results from Saturday's card of harness racing in Manitoba, click the following link: Saturday Results - The Loop.
(Standardbred Canada)