The final two Hanover Stakes of the 2008 racing season were contested on Sunday night at Balmoral Park with two-year-old trotters taking center stage.
With a total of 17 trotting colts entered the boys were split into a pair of $36,200 divisions while 10 of their female counterparts battled for a jackpot of $81,300.
In the first division of the colt trot Robert Rietveld, Paul Gibson and Jack Dorn's Definer continued an impressive freshman campaign with a gritty half-length victory in 1:57.
Confidently handled by Tyler Buter, this gelded son of Armbro Tropicana laid down splits of 28.4, 58.1 and 1:27.2 en route to the win. Dr Mcdreamy was second and Sargent Volo rounded out the top three.
"He really felt good all the way tonight," said Buter. "Even when Homer's horse (Dr. Mcdreamy) came charging up alongside us he just picked up the bit and continued right on for me."
With the win Definer now boasts an impressive record of 8-3-2 in 14 starts with earnings of $131,177.
The Doug Ackerman Stables' Judge Joe made every call a winning one in the second division en route to a 1:57.4 score. D.R. Ackerman had the colt on top through panels of :29.1, :58.3 and 1:28.4 before kicking out a :29-second final frame.
He held on to win by three-quarters of a length over Keystone Wildcat. Be Bullish rounded out the top three.
In the winner's circle a confident Ackerman was singing the praises of this highly regarded son of Credit Winner, who now sports a record of 7-4-1 in 12 starts with earnings of $330,509.
"He did everything perfectly tonight," said the proud pilot. "Once he made the lead he relaxed, then he picked it up on his own when the other horses came to him. I could have gone around there three more times and they wouldn't have caught him."
After having a very busy workload the past two months which has included stops in New York, Kentucky, Canada and Illinois Ackerman is still thinking about sending his colt to the Breeders Crown later this month.
"You always hope you don't take a nice two-year-old like this just one start to long," he explained. "His races in Canada were probably two of his best though and he was awfully sharp tonight. I guess I'll have to sit down and have a long talk with his owner," he joked.
The "chalk" players had their hearts broken in the lone filly division of the Hanover as 10-1 shot Overt took advantage of a miscue by the even-money favourite Dover Miss right at the wire to win by a nose in 1:57.3.
Using the inside starting spot perfectly driver Josh Sutton sent the daughter of Valley Victor right to the front where she proceeded to cruise through splits of 29.1, 58.1 and 1:27.3.
Dover Miss, who miscued in the closing strides, had to settle for second prize while Talkaboutjoy was a distant third.
"She's drawn poorly so many times this year but now she's been inside for her last three starts and you can see how much better she's been," Sutton said. "I'm not sure it would have turned out any differently if that other filly hadn't made a break. To me it looked like she actually lunged forward when she went off stride so I've got to believe we would have held her off anyway."
The win was the first in 15 starts this season for Overt who also has four seconds and three thirds to her credit. The winner's check of $40,650 nearly doubled her seasonal earnings as they now stand at $86,472 for the partnership of Phillip Rietveld, Gordon Wright and Paul Gibson.
(Balmoral Park)