CAMPBELLVILLE, ON — A trio of Jeremes Jet fillies swept the top three placings in Monday night’s $130,000 Gold Final at Mohawk Racetrack, with Apogee Hanover leading the parade.
Sent off as the fan’s third choice, behind elimination winners Class Of O Nine and YS Gold Star, Apogee Hanover was lagging behind the gate at the start and landed in eighth spot on the rail. Legal Entity roared away from Post 9 and reached the opening eighth in :13.1, and the opening quarter in :27.2, but she was quickly overtaken, first by YS Gold Star and then by Class Of O Nine.
Class Of O Nine had a short head in front at the :56.2 half and was more comfortably in charge by the 1:24.3 three-quarters, but there was a great deal of activity in the outer lane. By the 1:38.4 seven-eighths the fan favourite had a scant half-length lead and in the cavalry charge down the stretch she disappeared entirely from view.
Third in the line of fillies marshalling on the outside, Apogee Hanover laid down a :27 final quarter to claim the victory, two and one-quarter lengths ahead of Jeremes Sweetheart. Classy Lane Rose delivered a spectacular final quarter, sprinting from tenth at the three-quarter mile marker into third, nearly catching Jeremes Sweetheart.
Both Jeremes Sweetheart and Classy Lane Rose are locally owned. Trainer Casie Coleman’s West Wins Stable of Cambridge shares ownership of Jeremes Sweetheart with Steve Calhoun of Chatham, and trainer Ben Wallace of Milton and Jamie Millier of Puslinch share both owning and breeding credits on Classy Lane Rose.
All three fillies are daughters of first year sire Jeremes Jet, who earned $1.6 million in his career and was only bested once in seven freshman starts. The stallion currently makes his home at Tara Hills Stud in Port Perry, ON.
Apogee Hanover is trained by Ervin Miller for owner Roger Hammer of Bedford, PA. Hammer purchased the half-sister to $869,912 winner Alastor Hanover from last fall’s Harrisburg Yearling Sale for $27,000 and trained her through the winter. Following a pair of qualifiers — the first in 1:59.2 at Pocono Downs on June 6, the second a 1:58.3 win at Harrah’s Chester on June 14 — Hammer handed the filly over to Miller, who prepped her for the Gold Series season opener at Flamboro Downs.
When the filly was scratched out of that June 26 Gold Elimination due to sickness, Miller opted for a third qualifier, which saw Apogee Hanover circle the Mohawk Racetrack oval in 1:58 on July 5. Finally making her debut in last week’s Gold Elimination, Apogee Hanover was a hard closing second to YS Gold Star.
Scott Zeron piloted the novice pacer in both her July 5 qualifier and last week’s elimination, but the Oakville resident did not make it back to Mohawk in time for the seventh race after a Gold Final commitment at Rideau Carleton Raceway in Ottawa, so his father Rick Zeron stepped into the bike for Monday’s triumph.
Apogee Hanover will make her own visit to the nation’s capital on Aug. 7, when the two-year-old pacing fillies journey to Rideau Carleton Raceway for the third Gold Series event of their season.
Ontario Sires Stakes excitement continues at Mohawk Racetrack this week, with Gold Elimination action for the two-year-old trotting colts on Thursday, July 21.
For complete results please go to: Mohawk Racetrack Results — July 18, 2011