Harrah's Hoosier Park: Allywag Hanover surges to Pacing Derby crown

Allywag Hanover came away victorious from a wild and woolly $175,000 Harrah's Hoosier Park Pacing Derby for free-for-allers on Friday night that saw multiple lead changes and a 1:47 3/5 performance by the winner.

Hellabalou (Ronnie Wrenn Jr.) charged out from post five and led on the first turn, but Allywag Hanover (Todd McCarthy) was on his outside and was able to clear him past that marker. Allywag Hanover's lead didn't last very long, though, as he was overtaken by Little Rocket Man (John De Long) in the backstretch. Following Little Rocket Man's bid was Lou's Pearlman (David Miller), and 2-5 favorite Bythemissal (Yannick Gingras) had the cover of Lou's Pearlman.

Lou's Pearlman, a 31-1 shot, pressed on and was able to wrangle the top spot away from Little Rocket Man beyond the 53 second half, leaving Bythemissal uncovered. Meanwhile, the shuffled Allywag Hanover took advantage of Ilikemebettor A (Scott Zeron) gapping cover to slip to the outside on the final bend and take up the second-over position behind Bythemissal, as that one got left on the rim by Lou's Pearlman to three-quarters in 1:20 flat.

In the stretch Lou's Pearlman put away Bythemissal, a fellow Ron Burke trainee, for good, but McCarthy had Allywag Hanover finishing well on the outside and Dan Patch Stakes champion Ponda Warrior (Kyle Wilfong), who was relegated from third to seventh on the inside in the middle-half, had pace in the passing lane. Allywag Hanover would not be denied, though, and behind his 27 1/5 final quarter, he would defeat the game Lou's Pearlman by half a length. Ponda Warrior wound up third, followed by Little Rocket Man and Bythemissal.

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"He's done an unbelievable job to still be at the level that he is now and gone the times he has for the last three years now," McCarthy stated after the race. "I was in the mix there early. I didn't love my spot on the first turn. I was still off the rail and I was trying to get a couple around me to get away close where I still wanted to be. There were more that kept coming than what I thought, and it still worked out. Off the turn I got to slide out onto Yannick's back, and I was pretty happy with that.

"That was a pretty good mile there tonight. He usually takes a little bit to get going, and he had a couple of hiccups this year, but it's a true testament to (trainer) Brett Pelling and the team there what they've done with him to get him back for nights like tonight. It's pretty cool. He seems to like this track pretty good, so we'll be looking forward to coming back (for the Breeders Crown."

Owned by Allywag Stable, the 6-year-old Captaintreacheous gelding picked up career win number 27 and topped the $2 million mark in career earnings, with his haul now at $2,023,293. He paid $10.80 to win as the 4-1 second choice.