Linedrive Hanover, who made just one start at age 2 and missed his entire 3-year-old season, has blossomed into a major force in 2022 and demonstrated that again in Sunday's C$273,500 Charles Juravinski Memorial Cup final at Flamboro Downs, going down the road to win in a Canadian record 1:49 for his 11th victory in 12 appearances this year. Driver James MacDonald had the gas pedal down at the start and Linedrive Hanover made front easily from post five. The only other strong leaver was Desperate Man (Trevor Henry) from post eight, and he was able to drop into the pocket on the way to the 27 second opening quarter. Elimination winner and favorite Bulldog Hanover (Jody Jamieson) went first-over from third past the quarter, and he would get into second before Linedrive Hanover reached the half in 55 seconds. Bulldog Hanover would continue to advance to within about a neck of the leader heading into the third turn, but then his bid stalled out and he backed up to third on the bend. Lou's Pearlman (Yannick Gingras) was also flat from second-over, forcing a third-over Charlie May (David Miller) to head three-wide, but he also struggled to go forward. Meanwhile, Linedrive Hanover had no traffic issues or concerns on the engine, and he blitzed through three-quarters in 1:22, setting up a match race him between him and the pocket-sitting Desperate Man in the final panel. Henry guided last year's Pepsi North America Cup champion and an elimination winner a week ago to the outside midway through the last turn, and although he made some late headway, it wasn't nearly enough as Linedrive Hanover hit the wire three-quarters of a length to the good. Dean B Hanover (Jordan Stratton) saved every bit of ground from the trailing post nine and was third, followed by Bulldog Hanover and Rockyroad Hanover (Dexter Dunn), who was mired in traffic fourth-over. "I went over the race a hundred times in my head and none of the times I ended up on the front," said MacDonald. "I just thought for sure I would get away fifth or sixth. "Last week, I tried to leave with him a bit and I'd never asked him off the gate. He was lost. He didn't know what to do. He dropped the bit and was in and out. Today, I kind of had him on his toes a little more, just to hold position. When the gate opened, he's got so much raw speed, he was just gone. I couldn't be happier for the horse or the connections. It's a great win, that's for sure." A gelded son of Betting Line, Linedrive Hanover is trained by Tony Beaton for owners West Wins Stable, McKinlay & Fielding, and Mac Nichol. He has earned C$265,200 and returned $6.80 to win as the 2-1 second choice after finishing a fast-closing second to Desperate Man in their elimination race last Sunday. ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter "We've been kind of monitoring his starts anyway. We've raced him every couple of weeks, trying to save some of these starts for these big races and not over-racing him," remarked Beaton. "He had to learn. He still doesn't even really know what he's doing out there, although he's winning. Like James says he's still green when he's racing and that. He overcomes everything. "I believe he's got the Graduate at Mohawk on June 5th and then the Meadowlands Graduate final as long as we're still good enough." For Casie Coleman (West Wins Stable), the victory was gratifying as Linedrive Hanover, who battled injury issues as a freshman and sophomore, is now showing what she saw in training and why she continued to keep him. "What he's doing now is what I expected. I didn't expect to wait until he was four years old to race," she offered. "I've never waited on a horse this long. I told my partners on this horse, I'm not selling him, I'm keeping him. He got bone bruising at 2, and he broke a tibia at 3. I thought he was the best 2-year-old I ever had, and I thought he was the best 3-year-old I've ever had. He got hurt both times. I wasn't letting him go. One partner did sell out, the rest of the partners all stayed in, and now here we are. I couldn't be any happier. "He's always showed this talent, and now he's doing it on the racetrack."