stakes recap

By Ray Cotolo

The all-time Breeders Crown pacing record of 1:46.4 set in the penultimate start of Bulldog Hanover’s sensational 2022 season snapped cleanly on Saturday night at Woodbine Mohawk Park when 6-5 favorite Ervin Hanover uncorked a furious back half to claim the $822,000 Grade 1 Breeders Crown Open Pace with a 1:46.2 effort. ​ 

Driver Dexter Dunn sent Ervin Hanover forward from post 5 but bided in a stalking spot as Huntinthelastdolar revved out of post 10 to plant onto the point heading to a :26.1 first quarter. Huntinthelastdolar settled on the lead, at which point Coaches Corner vacated his pocket seat to push for the lead with Ervin Hanover following out of third. Ervin Hanover took over command through the shuffle before a :53.4 half and entered the last turn in full force. Past three-quarters in 1:20, Dunn urged Ervin Hanover for the finish and the 5-year-old Captaintreacherous-Eloquent Grace stallion sailed along a second wind to cross the finish by a widening 3-1/4 lengths. Coaches Corner gave chase for second while Ken Hanover settled for third from a first-over bid and Maximus Miki closed for fourth.

“Louis [Roy] has done such a great job with him all season, and had a tough choice with Nijinsky, and I was really lucky the connections gave me a call to jump on board,” said Dexter Dunn, who caught the drive on Ervin Hanover heading into his Breeders Crown elimination. “I was more than happy to.

“[An] unbelievable mile,” Dunn also said. “He just doesn't seem to get tired. Dave [Menary] had him ready to roll and as was going to track, he said he's better when it's colder, so it gave me more confidence with him.”

Not only did Ervin Hanover’s 1:46.2 mile lower the stakes record set by Bulldog Hanover, but it also lowered the track and Canadian record he first set in Sept. 2022 and later matched with his Breeders Crown win. Ervin Hanover’s Breeders Crown mile is the fastest ever paced in Canada.

“We've been looking forward to it for a long time, and, you know, we kind of mapped out a schedule to get here, and everything sort of fell into place,” trainer Dave Menary said. “We got pretty excited last year. He was good early on this year, but last year, he just ended the year on a good note, and he's done the same thing again this year.”

Ervin Hanover’s win also gave Dave Menary, a 15-time Breeders Crown finalist since debuting in 2004 with Cosington in the Open Trot, his first Breeders Crown trophy.

“I'm just so lucky,” Menary said. “[I have a] great family at home and at the barn. I can't thank my staff enough. Everybody works really, really hard. Mark McKinnon, he was in tears in the winner’s circle. He does a great job taking care of this horse and we're a team. We all do it. We all work hard. And I appreciate everybody a lot.”

Owner Thomas Pollack of Pollack Racing LLC also collected his first Breeders Crown trophy with Ervin Hanover’s victory.

“We knew he was a nice horse,” Pollack said. “He showed signs of being able to go with the good ones, but he was kind of inconsistent, and we took a chance on him. He kind of had a rough start to his year at 4 and then caught fire at the end of the year up here in in November and December, a couple [1:]47 miles. And then I knew we had something special then.

“Dave [Menary]’s done an unbelievable job,” Pollack also said. “It's been so much fun to race here and work with Dave. Mark Reynolds, who works with me, and Dave go way back, and we needed outlets to race all these horses we had, and Dave's just done an amazing job. I can't thank him enough.” 

Ervin Hanover, bred by Hanover Shoe Farms Inc., collected his 10th win from 16 starts this season and his 26th win from 74 starts in his career, pushing his earnings to $1,677,066. He paid $4.70 to win.