Harrah's Hoosier Park: Ken Hanover looks for another sharp performance in Pacing Derby

Ken Hanover got back to his winning ways two weeks ago in the Jim Ewart Memorial and will look to maintain his momentum this Friday (Sept. 25) when he visits Harrah’s Hoosier Park to face nine rivals in the $175,000 Grade 2 Hoosier Park Pacing Derby as part of a stakes-laden card at the Indiana oval.

Hoosier Park hosts eight unrestricted graded stakes Friday, including three additional Grade 2 events – the $285,000 Kentuckiana Stallion Management for 2-year-old female trotters, the $200,000 Kentuckiana Stallion Management for freshman female pacers, and the $200,000 Caesars Trotting Classic, for older trotters.

First post is 5:30 p.m. (EDT). The Hoosier Park Pacing Derby, which will see Ken Hanover enter as the 5-2 morning-line favorite in the group of older male pacers, is the last of the stakes, carded as the 13th race on the 15-race program.

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In his most recent start, on Sept. 12, Ken Hanover won the $260,000 Grade 2 Jim Ewart Memorial by 2-3/4 lengths in 1:48 at Eldorado Scioto Downs to snap a seven-race stretch without a victory. Leaving from post 7, Ken Hanover and driver Tim Tetrick were on the outside through fractions of 26, 53 and 1:20 1/5 before launching a three-wide attack from fifth place on the final turn and scooting home in a race-best 27 1/5.

“It worked out good,” co-owner/trainer Roland “Polie” Mallar said. “He was out a long way, but he had cover the whole way and the flow kept going. The fractions were pretty speedy, but with those horses, that’s what you kind of expect. He never got jammed up and as long as the flow kept going, he kept on following.

“When he pulled him three-wide in the upper turn, I said to myself, this horse is still alive. When he cleared, he just kept on going. Everything kind of fell his way.”

That wasn’t necessarily always the case in his previous seven races. Ken Hanover had three second-place finishes during that span, plus a fourth-place finish in a division of the Sam McKee Memorial (G2) at the Meadowlands where he missed by only half a length.

“Even though he got home in 26 (in the McKee), he wasn’t quite himself that day,” Mallar said. “We did a little work on him and I think that’s helped.”

Following the McKee, Ken Hanover finished eighth from post 8 in the Always B Miki Pace (G3) on Aug. 22 at Pocono Downs at Mohegan Pennsylvania, where a 55 2/5 opening half made it difficult to launch a rally from the backfield into a 53 2/5 second half.

Mallar was unable to get Ken Hanover into a race after the Always B Miki, so he sent the 6-year-old stallion to the Meadowlands on Sept. 4 for a qualifier as a prep for the Ewart Memorial. Ken Hanover zipped around the one-mile oval in 1:48 1/5, with a 25 3/5 last quarter, to win by more than 19 lengths.

“The race at Pocono when he had the eight-hole, he got away in the back,” Mallar said. “It was slow fractions up front – they waltzed to the half in 55 and a piece, which for that class is not a lot – and nobody in the back four really had a shot. He finished up good, but they all did because of the fractions. So, I put him in twice at Pocono in the open, and it didn’t fill. I wanted to stretch him out a little bit and my only option, really, was to take him to the Meadowlands. But I think that peaked him for the Ewart.”

In Friday’s Hoosier Park Pacing Derby, Ken Hanover will face a field that includes Dandy Ideal, who in August won the $300,000 Dan Patch Stakes (G1) at Hoosier. Dandy Ideal, who finished sixth in the Ewart, will leave from post 1 with Jason Bartlett driving for Hunter Oakes and is the 4-1 second choice on the morning line.

Ken Hanover and Tetrick will leave from post 4, and Mallar is pleased with the way his horse is heading into the race.

“He’s good right now, he’s sharp right now; I’m just hoping he stays that way for another six or eight weeks, that would be good,” Mallar said. “But it’s a good group of horses no matter where he races. Any one of those horses can pop up and win, it’s just a matter of who gets the trip. We’ll just hope we can race (against) them every week.”

For the season, Ken Hanover has three wins and three seconds in 10 races, with $266,941 in earnings. Lifetime, the son of Captaintreacherous-KJ’s Justine has 49 top-three finishes in 68 starts, with 24 victories and $1.46 million in the bank. Mallar shares ownership of the stallion with Patrick Leavitt, William Jordan, and Dennis Osterholt.

“I think he’s fresh, but now he’s going to have to go four or five weeks in a row if we get as far as the Breeders Crown (in mid-October at Scioto Downs),” Mallar said. “But I think he’s going to be up to the task. He’s feeling good, he’s acting good, and he likes his job; that’s one quality about him. He’s pretty easy on himself, and he has a very efficient gait, which helps.”

One race prior to the Hoosier Park Pacing Derby, On To Norway – the sport’s No. 4-ranked horse in the Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown poll – will face seven foes in the Caesars Trotting Classic. He will leave from post 3 with John DeLong driving for Ron Burke and is the 2-1 morning-line favorite.