Dorsoduro Hanover Wins First Breeders Crown Soph Colt Pace Elim
By Ray Cotolo, for the Breeders Crown
WILKES-BARRE, PA—Brushing to the lead before the half, the Ron Burke-trained Somebeachsomewhere gelding Dorsoduro Hanover held off the passing-lane bid from pocket-sitter Thinkbig Dreambig to take the first of three $25,000 Breeders Crown eliminations for three-year-old colt and gelding pacers at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono on Saturday, Oct. 20.
Driver Matt Kakaley positioned Dorsoduro Hanover fourth to the quarter as Hitman Hill swooped to the top from post seven. Thinkbig Dreambig, away second, pulled from the pocket approaching the quarter and cleared past the :27.1 opening marker while Dorsoduro Hanover made his move first over in progress to a :55.2 half.
Dorsoduro Hanover controlled the pace heading to three-quarters with Ideal Feeling, tracking the favorite’s stand-side brush, advancing into second through the 1:22.4 clip. Thinkbig Dreambig, off the pocket trip, thrust into the passing lane after Dorsoduro Hanover through the stretch but settled for second in the 1:50.1 mile. Springsteen, trailing the field throughout, fanned widest of all into the stretch and stormed home for third.
“I just didn’t want to be first up tonight,” Kakaley said after the race. “I had him first up in his last couple of starts, so I just controlled things my own way [and] he was really good. When they get to his bridle, he usually digs in and fights—when Yannick [Gingras on Thinkbig Dreambig] shot into the passing lane he just hit another gear; he was super.”
Owned by Burke Racing Stable LLc, Silva Purnel And Libby, Weaver Bruscemi LLC and Wingfield Five LLC, Dorsoduro Hanover won his ninth race from 17 starts this season and his 11th from 31 overall, earning $991,856. The Hanover Shoe Farms-bred gelding from the Artsplace mare Deer Valley Miss returned $4.60 to win.
