Woodbine Mohawk Park: Fan Hanover final offers marquee filly showdown

There will be a major seven-figure contest at Woodbine Mohawk Park on Saturday night that may take the attention of a large majority of the crowd watching the races at the track and beyond. That said, it's hard to imagine a more compelling event for sophomores that night than the Fan Hanover Stakes, which matches two titanic fillies who never clashed during their brilliant freshman campaigns in 2022.

The all-star bout pits Breeders Crown champion Sylvia Hanover, who hasn't ventured further than she's had to travel during her spectacular career while dominating stakes action in Ontario, versus last year's New York Sire Stakes and Kentucky Championship Series champion Twin B Joe Fresh.

It's a match-up that is rare during these times when big races generally find common interest among horsemen and horses. However, last year's eligibility and decision-making left both horses on separate paths that had no ability to ever cross. For Sylvia Hanover, a diet of strict Ontario stakes races culminating in her capturing the Breeders Crown on home turf was a fitting campaign and one she was extraordinary in navigating. With just one loss coming in an early race where she started from the second tier, the daughter of Always B Miki rose to the occasion time and time again and responded every time driver Bob McClure asked her in the final stages. Trainer Shawn Steacy managed her perfectly, and the results were magnificent right up until the very end.

South of the border, Chris Ryder made an early decision on a filly that he co-owned with driving champion Dexter Dunn and a few other buddies. Twin B Joe Fresh was eligible in New York and Kentucky, and Ryder thought that was a big enough dual campaign to tackle, so he purposely left her out of the 2022 Breeders Crown just hoping that the filly would reach her potential while having a shot and making a lot of money in the process. Ryder's plan worked to perfection as Twin B Joe Fresh was able to compete in both Sire Stakes events and not only qualify for each final but win both during a very slim window. It required a filly that could handle the travel and the competition, and Twin B Joe Fresh, a daughter of Roll With Joe, was more than up to it.

Last Saturday (June 10) was the first chance on the stakes schedule for Twin B Joe Fresh and Sylvia Hanover to meet on a single stage, on a single night. They may have caught the other's eyes passing in the night, but they managed to avoid each other while capturing individual eliminations for the Fan Hanover. In the process they saved the best for one of the sport's biggest nights this Saturday.

"She was super-impressive," said Shawn Steacy of Sylvia Hanover. "She was out most of the mile, and she went by a very good horse [the previously unbeaten Beach Cowgirl]."

That Sylvia Hanover was able to challenge without cover on a second move after spotting Beach Cowgirl the front and a very soft 56-second opening half only tells half the story. Joe Bongiorno had last year's Pennsylvania Sire Stakes champion Beach Cowgirl on the front-end and in most cases an opening half like that would be followed by a third quarter sprint. Bongiorno carried out the task impressively, throwing down a 26 3/5 third quarter that should have taken some of the edge off Sylvia Hanover, a filly that had already been used early to gain position. To Bongiorno's surprise that brick he threw at his rivals wouldn't put a dent in Sylvia Hanover's demeanor as the filly just picked up the bit and blew her doors off, literally, with a 26 3/5 final quarter in a personal-best 1:49 2/5 mile.

"It was one of the most impressive efforts I've ever seen," said Bongiorno on Twitter. "I think the absolute world of my filly and she wore me down."

"She understands more this year what she has to do on the track," said Steacy of Sylvia Hanover. "She's more focused."

As with almost all miles these days, it's hard to quantify just what the fractions or final time mean when assessing these horses, but one bit of info Sylvia Hanover did leave on the racetrack this past Saturday was her level of determination to pass other horses. In Beach Cowgirl she managed to go past a filly with impressive credentials that suffered no great harm to her reputation with a second-place finish given it was her first trip over the track, and she did have to overcome post eight to get the front.

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While Sylvia Hanover was roaring past the speed, Twin B Joe Fresh was the speed in her Fan Hanover elimination. Driver Dexter Dunn managed to accomplish the task at hand of winning the race and assuring himself a good post for the final while not taking too much out of his filly that was making just her second start as a sophomore.

"She finished with the plugs in," said Ryder of the effort.

What was harder for those watching Twin B Joe Fresh finish out her 1:49 mile victory to ascertain was whether the filly was tired or just being shut down in the final yards. An apparent five-length margin in deep stretch was reduced to just three-quarters of a length on the wire.

"She might have been a little bit tired," said Ryder without looking for an excuse for winning an elimination.

What was quite clear in Twin B Joe Fresh's performance was her ability to turn on the jets and lose contact with other horses. That was more than evident when Dunn called on her late on the final turn and she immediately opened a large enough margin to secure the win with just a few late taps.

"It was an elimination race," said Ryder. "It's going to be a lot different in the final."

Different for who?

That's the real question as these two fillies face each other for the first time, but it would be wise not to think they are the only two that can win this contest given the incredible talent in the field, and the fact that a pair of trainers have two fillies in the race, a factor that could complicate the way the race plays out for the two star attractions.

With C$420K on the line, red-hot trainer Linda Toscano has a pair of potent stakes-caliber fillies in Ucandoit Blue Chip (post two) and Cultured (post nine). Jenn Bongiorno sends out Beach Cowgirl (post eight) and stablemate Zanatta (post four), with Dan Dube coming back for an encore performance behind the filly he guided to last year's Three Diamonds championship.

Then there is Charleston (post six), a filly that only caught the eye last week as a blur on the outside if your attention wasn't directly on Sylvia Hanover's epic performance. Charleston did everything she could to win last year's Breeders Crown finale at Woodbine Mohawk Park but in the end couldn't deal with Sylvia Hanover. With more players in attendance this time around, perhaps the lightning-quick filly with a pedigree to match has a chance to upset.

For those who love the game and great racing there is hope that this will be the first of what could play out as many times we see potentially great fillies going to battle.

"We've staked her to the Mistletoe Shalee, the Jugette and the Breeders Crown," said Steacy of Sylvia Hanover, giving solid indication that Ontario will only be the first chapter of her 3-year-old stakes season.

"We're going to focus on Kentucky this year," said Ryder of Twin B Joe Fresh. "The money is great and you don't have to travel."

Twin B Joe Fresh is eligible to the Mistletoe Shalee as well.

Shawn Steacy knows it's a long season, but he's more than optimistic that in Sylvia Hanover he has a horse that is unique.

"I think she has the potential to be one of the greats," said Steacy.

The potential road to greatness will begin about 10:20 p.m. on Saturday when the Fan Hanover fillies aim for the prize in the 10th of 13 races on the Woodbine Mohawk Park card.