WINDSOR, ON — Neither the rain soaked track or the five week lull in Ontario Sires Stakes action did anything to obscure Alastor Hanover’s map to the winner’s circle on Sunday evening as the two-year-old pacing colt picked up his seventh straight victory in Gold Elimination action at Windsor Raceway.

Leaving from Post 7 the Rustler Hanover son and driver Mario Baillargeon landed fourth on the outside as early pacesetter Apaches Banker took the field of seven through fractions of :27 and :56.4. By the time the colts hit the 1:25.4 three-quarter marker Alastor Hanover had taken command of the race and the reigning Gold Final champion simply cruised home to the three and one-quarter length victory in 1:56.1. Northern Cowboy delivered his best come-from-behind effort of the season to nail down the runner-up spot, while Spudcam was 15 lengths behind the leader in third.

Mark Ford trains Alastor Hanover for Vicki Fair of Bedford, PA. The young pacer has been flawless since a July 4 win in a two-year-old open at Mohawk Racetrack, capturing three Gold Eliminations and two Gold Finals and earning a total of $188,704.

Race 4 saw Spokesman deliver his second Gold Elimination victory with a 1:56.2 front end score over a track rated three seconds slower than normal. In rein to Kevin Wallis, the son of Camluck and $547,035 winner Simply Ravishing wrestled control away from U Lucky Guy heading toward the half and never faced another challenge, cruising home two and a half lengths on top in 1:56.2. Armbro Domi closed well to nudge U Lucky Guy into third spot.

Trained by Murray Preszcator for Dr. Paul Gatfield of Denfield, Spokesman has amassed a record of three wins, three seconds and one third in 10 starts for earnings of $142,033.

While his peers boosted their already impressive Ontario Sires Stakes records, Mister Big claimed his first provincial win of the season in the last Gold Elimination. The winner of the Dream Maker Series at Mohawk Racetrack in August, Mister Big got a perfect trip behind pacesetter Presidential Alert and fired down the stretch to score the one and three-quarter length victory in 1:56.3.

Presidential Alert finished second in the $38,008 contest, while local favourite Button Up, owned by Steve Calhoun of Chatham and trainer Mark Horner of St. Marys, landed in third.

Phil Hudon engineered Grinfromeartoear son Mister Big’s third win of the season for trainer Timothy Pinske and owners Pinske Stables of Plato, MN and Kentuckiana Racing Stable and Tom Crouch of Lexington, KY.

The top three finishers from each elimination will return to Windsor Raceway next Sunday, Oct. 2 for their second last Gold Final. Post positions for the $130,000 Final are as follows:

Post 1 Button Up

Post 2 Spokesman

Post 3 Spudcam

Post 4 Armbro Domi

Post 5 Mister Big

Post 6 Northern Cowboy

Post 7 Alastor Hanover

Post 8 Presidential Alert

Post 9 U Lucky Guy

AE1 Hombre

AE2 Hunter Hylight

AE3 Lookinforagrin

For complete results please go to:

http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/results/data/rwrfsu.html