Northfield: Sassa Hanover a millionaire after Courageous Lady win

Driver Yannick Gingras insisted on having the lead in the $120,000 Courageous Lady for 3-year-old pacing fillies and that proved to be the winning decision. Once in control, Sassa Hanover never looked back while setting a track record over a sloppy Northfield Park surface on Friday night.

Gingras and Ronnie Wrenn, Jr battled down to the quarter before Sassa Hanover eventually wrestled the lead from Triple V Hanover at the quarter in 26 seconds. Only token pressure would come from stablemate Southwind Roulette between the 55 half and 1:23 2/5 three quarters.

It was Sassa Hanover’s race to lose at the head of the lane as second choice Bettor N Better continued to rally from third-over with Tim Tetrick. Gingras asked the Ron Burke trainee for all she had and the daughter of Rock N Roll Heaven prevailed by a head in 1:52 1/5.

Southwind Roulette held for third.

“I actually thought he (Tetrick) got me, but my filly held on,” said Gingras. “I wanted to control the race. I thought I had the best filly by far and she got tortured and still held on.”

Sassa Hanover has now won seven starts in 21 races for owners Burke Racing Stable, Panhellenic Stable, Weaver Bruscemi and Larry Karr. She went over $1 million in career earnings with the win.