Plainridge: Sylvia Hanover delivers in Clara Barton Pace

Sylvia Hanover picked up her first victory of 2024 in Sunday afternoon's $100,000 Clara Barton for older pacing mares at Plainridge Park, brushing to the top before the half and sailing to a 1:48 2/5 with Tim Tetrick in the bike for the initial time.

Always B Naughty (Yannick Gingras), the 7-2 second choice in the race, was on the point at the 26 3/5 quarter, but she released 21-1 shot Beach Cowgirl (David Miller), who had been stuck two-wide, past that marker. Tetrick then swung out of third with Sylvia Hanover, and unlike on past occasions when she's hung or been unable to clear, she made her way right around Beach Cowgirl and was in charge well before the 53 3/5 half.

Todd McCarthy got the outer tier going from fifth with Talk Curdy To Me nearing the half. When Gingras stayed in on the pylons in the three-hole, that left Talk Curdy To Me to do the first-over lifting, and she had Grace Hill (Doug McNair) following from second-over. As the flow began to advance, Beach Cowgirl started to gap as Sylvia Hanover got to three-quarters in 1:21 1/5, and that allowed McCarthy to drop down to the rail in the pocket and McNair to slide over to the cones in third. That also shuffled Always B Naughty back to last, effectively taking her out of contention.

That was all going on behind Sylvia Hanover, and she wasn't getting caught on this day, as she threw down a 27 1/5 final kicker to defeat a game Grace Hill, who did make up some ground through the stretch, by a length and three-quarters. Talk Curdy To Me also put in a good effort to get third at 28-1, and Valar Dohaeris (Kevin Switzer Jr.) collected fourth as the 47-1 outsider. Always B Naughty had to settle fof fifth.

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"She's great, what a champion mare she is. Thanks to the connections for giving me the opportunity. She's a pleasure," said Tetrick after the win. "She's just been first-up a lot. I was trying not to be in that position. They said she could be lazy at times, but she jumped out of there really good and confident. When Yannick let David go, I thought I had the best mare, so I went ahead and took advantage.

"She's got big lungs. I don't think she'll ever get tired, just sometimes the trip gets in her way. Sometimes she gets too much in front of her. She's been going against [Twin B Joe Fresh] that's been just out of her mind good this year. Bob's done a great job teaching her all along. I just get to fill in for Bob today, and she's just a great mare. I just put the bits in her mouth. Everybody was still screaming behind her and did all the work for me that I had to do. She was looking for any competition to come after her. She had plenty left."

A 4-year-old daughter of Always B Miki bred by Hanover Shoe Farms, Sylvia Hanover is trained by Mark Steacy for owner Hudson Standardbred Stable Inc. She has won 19 of 29 lifetime tries, has pocketed $1,597,950 and paid $2.40 to win as the 1-5 favorite.

In other action on Plainridge's Sunday program, 7-year-old Sportswriter gelding Big Skewy N was a 1:49 1/5 winner for driver Drew Monti, trainer Scott Blackler and owner Arrhythmic LLC. in the $75,000 Bert Beckwith Memorial, an invitational for older male pacers, and Gandolf The Black, a 4-year-old gelded son of Shadow Play, captured the $50,000 John Hogan Memorial Junior Invitational Handicap for older horse and gelding pacers in 1:50 3/5 for driver Drew Monti, trainer Jackie Greene and owner Kellogg Racing Stables LLC.