Harness: Linedrive Hanover proves that good things come to those who wait

Casie Coleman never saw it coming. The part-owner and often trainer of Linedrive Hanover thought her 4-year-old gelding had a chance to win the inaugural Charles Juravinski Memorial on May 22 at Flamboro Downs but never imagined the way the race would go or for that matter how the son of Betting Line would break the track record.

"I thought there would be speed from the outside," Coleman said on May 23, reflecting on the race. "I was hoping with the better draw he'd be able to get away maybe fourth or fifth and race off a hotly contested pace."

It was easy to understand why Coleman would have expected her horse to be a closer in the race. Through a majority of 2022, essentially his first season of competitive racing, Linedrive Hanover has done his best work from off the pace while passing each test and moving up the class ladder.

"Last week [in the eliminations] he had to stop and start a few times coming from off the pace," said Coleman. "Still, he was closing late and was a winner a few steps past the wire."

In the Juravinski final driver James McDonald made the call at the start to send Linedrive Hanover to the front. "It didn't surprise me that James left the gate," said Coleman. "What surprised me was how quick he crossed over to the lead and that he was able to go just 27 seconds in the first quarter."

Linedrive Hanover went wire-to-wire defeating some of the best 4-year-olds in training quite handily while pacing to a 1:49 career best over the half-mile track, breaking the legendary Somebeachsomewhere's track record.

"I think going (1):49 was pretty amazing considering that he got down to the quarter in just 27 seconds," said Coleman, looking back at the clocking. "Also, it was pretty cold out there by the time he raced last night [about 11:00 p.m.]. I know when Somebeachsomewhere set the record he did it during the day in the middle of the summer."

Of course, Somebeachsomewhere was also a 3-year-old at the time, so we'll give him some slack for losing the track standard some years later.

What's interesting about Linedrive Hanover's incredible rise since January is the road traveled to get here. Coleman, who owns a significant share of his sire Betting Line, was obviously in the market for yearlings from the first crop of her one-time superstar on the track back in the fall of 2019.

"I remember that he was my pick of all the horses I saw at Hanover Shoe," said Coleman. "I know we paid $340,000 for Dean B Hanover, but I would have paid whatever was necessary to get Linedrive."

Just $75,000 was required for Linedrive Hanover, who entered training in Florida and from the outset was every bit as special as Coleman had expected him to be.

Linedrive Hanover did everything right and Coleman and the owners paid him into all the major stakes for freshmen in 2020 anticipating the colt would be a player along the Grand Circuit. Jonathan Drury guided Linedrive Hanover to a strong-closing second in his first baby race in late June and then came back with an explosive effort a week later going a 1:53 2/5 mile and winning by the length of the stretch.

"I was actually pretty upset with Jonathan after that race," said Coleman. "We don't usually go those kinds of miles in baby races at Mohawk. It's not like the Meadowlands."

Linedrive Hanover paced a 53 4/5 final half, the kind of fractions that get noticed. "Jonathan told me that he did it so easily that he had no idea how fast he was actually going," said Coleman.

Yet one race into the season the juvenile hopes for Linedrive Hanover were dashed. "After his first race he was sore, and we couldn't find the issue. We did a bone scan and found that he had a bone bruise to a hind ankle that required six months rest," said Coleman.

Linedrive Hanover returned ready for action and had the connections contemplating a successful sophomore season, but that never quite got off the ground. Following a qualifier in Florida, Linedrive Hanover was sent to Pocono where Matt Kakaley would substitute for David Miller in a qualifier. Despite an "off" track Linedrive Hanover won his qualifier convincingly in 1:54 4/5. "Matt thought he was an absolute killer," Coleman said, recalling the day.

Bad luck would once again rear its ugly head with Linedrive Hanover coming up sore, this time a bone bruise to the tibea. "That's like a one in a million injury," Coleman said. "The good thing about both injuries though is that they usually don't bother them in the future."

Coleman had to make a decision once Linedrive Hanover had recovered and that was where the horse should go. "It was either keep him in Florida with me and maybe race at Pompano a few times or have him stay north and race at Woodbine Mohawk Park," Coleman said. "Since he was essentially an unraced 4-year-old I thought we'd be better leaving him in Ontario."

The decision put Linedrive Hanover with trainer Anthony Beaton, who Coleman trusted for obvious reasons. "He ran my operation in Ontario for about a dozen years while Andrew Harris was in charge Stateside," said Coleman.

The trust in Beaton paid off as he knew what Coleman wanted to see and patiently brought Linedrive Hanover along this winter with incredible results. Prior to entering the two weeks at Flamboro, Linedrive Hanover (now a gelding) had won 10 straight races, all over the 7/8 mile track. Until the May 15 elimination he had never once raced on a half-mile track.

What was rather interesting about the 11 starts in 2022 prior to Sunday's Juravinski mile is that Linedrive Hanover was never on the front end once at the quarter. James McDonald kept him from off the pace and gained more confidence with each race, inevitably moving him earlier in the mile with the same winning results.

"I didn't know he could leave the gate like that," said Coleman, obviously surprised herself by the performance.

To me Linedrive Hanover's breathtaking burst of speed was reminiscent of the kind of brush-and-crush miles that Its Fritz put in in the Winter-Spring of 1983 as a 4-year-old with a minimal amount of racing experience.

Linedrive Hanover will get to take on 4-year-olds once again when the Graduate series second leg moves to Woodbine Mohawk Park on June 4.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Linedrive Hanover has drawn post three in the 8th race on June 4 at Mohawk.]

"We didn't stake him like we did when he was 2 and 3," said Coleman. "It's hard when you're trying to figure out how to stake an unraced horse, but we did put him into the Canadian Pacing Derby, The Breeders Crown and the Graduate. I think the only race he might have in the U.S. would be the Graduate final."

For Coleman, who categorically rarely hangs on to horses with such little experience after the age of 3, making an exception to that rule appears to be paying off big-time right now. On the flip side, the rise of Betting Line's stock as a stallion may have been totally different had this version of Linedrive Hanover been on display over the last two years. Now Betting Line has moved from Pennsylvania to Ontario where he is standing his first year in the province.

"He got every opportunity with some good mares at Hanover," said Coleman of Betting Line. "It's going to be a bit tougher for him in Ontario because he's not getting the same number of mares now."

Yet ever the optimist, Coleman pointed to Betting Line's now famous stallion Bettor's Delight that suffered somewhat in anonymity during his early years as a stallion. "Bettors Delight's first few years he wasn't very well received," said Coleman. "Look at him now."

For racing fans getting a look at Linedrive Hanover, who Coleman gelded following his second injury, is something we can get excited about in the weeks, months and hopefully years to come.