MILTON, August 11, 2018 – Dr J Hanover was all business winning Saturday evening’s $34,000 Preferred Pace at Woodbine Mohawk Park. The Tony Alagna trained five-year-old did the heavy-lifting en route to a 1:50 score over seven rivals. Driven by Sylvain Filion, Dr J Hanover blasted out to the lead and hung up a :26.3 opener. Fine Diamond flashed good speed at the start from the outside post, but ended up parked until grabbing the lead at three-eighths. Dr J Hanover immediately came back around to retake the lead before the half and proceeded to post fractions of :54.3 and 1:22.1. In the stretch, Dr J Hanover opened nearly four-lengths on his rivals and paced home in :27.4 to secure the victory by a length and a quarter. Carmen Auciello trainees Physicallyinclined and Always A Hotshot finished second and third, while Continual Hanover rallied from eighth to just miss hitting the board. Sintra, last year’s Canadian Pacing Derby champion, finished seventh after racing mid-pack most of the mile. It was his first start since the Haughton Memorial on July 14 at The Meadowlands. Dr J Hanover has now won two of three starts since returning from a mini-holiday of more than a month and a half between starts. The Alagna trainee picked up his fifth win in 13 starts Saturday, increasing his 2018 bankroll to $164,680 for owners Brad Grant, Robert LeBlanc, Steven Wienick and Irwin Samelman. Dr J Hanover’s career numbers now sit at 18 wins and $677,416 earned. He paid $7.10 to win. Live racing resumes Monday evening at Woodbine Mohawk with a new post time of 7:10 p.m. The $39,000 Dream Maker Series final headlines a 10-race card. Share This:Share
