Canadian-owned Apprentice Hanover and driver Jody Jamieson closed out the 2013 Grand Circuit stakes season with a victory in Northfield Park's $126,000 Cleveland Classic for three-year-old pacers on Saturday night.
Apprentice Hanover rallied wide off cover to win in 1:52.1 over the track rated 'good' due to Saturday's snowfall. Ben Wallace trains the Somebeachsomewhere colt for owner Brad Grant of Milton, Ont.
Favourite Word Power (Scott Zeron), also owned by Grant, worked his way to the lead off the gate over Dedis Dragon (Dave Palone) and insider Only The Lonely (Aaron Merriman) during a contested :27-second opening quarter. However, Twilight Bonfire (Tony Hall) began the first over attack from fourth during the second panel with Apprentice Hanover following his cover.
Word Power continued to lead the field of six past the half in :56.2 and three-quarters in 1:24 with Twilight Bonfire moving up to apply heavy pressure. But as the colts swung around the final turn, Apprentice Hanover fanned wide and kicked into action. The 3-1 third choice surged by in the stretch to prevail by half a length over Twilight Bonfire. Good Day Mate (Brett Miller) came from last to show.
"We were smoked out of there and I just got a nice tow,” said Jamieson of the winning trip. “I knew Twilight Bonfire would take me as far as I needed to go, but you just never know on a half-mile track and you try to do the best you can. Ben just had this horse awesome tonight and he was awesome crossing the wire.”
The win was Apprentice Hanover's fifth of the season from 18 starts and leaves him with a sophomore bankroll totalling $230,449 after overcoming sickness this summer.
“He just ruined my summer to be honest; he got real sick and had a serious stomach ulcer after the North America Cup," explained Wallace. "I lost a lot of sleep over it.
"I never got to take him into any races where I felt I had him tightened up and trained up good. I babysat him for the last six weeks and I started training him pretty good in Lexington and he responded great...1:52 out here in the snowstorm is a great trip for him. And I think Jody said he put his whip away at the top of the lane. He was very comfortable."
"I’ve been talking to Ben about this horse for the last three starts and he's been on his toes, he’s just a different horse," added Jamieson. "The track was a little heavy with the snow, but he was grabbing the track great. Even before the last turn, up the backside somewhere, I just felt really confident in him. He’s always paced hard down to the wire when he was good for me so I was real happy with him.”
Congratulations Ben.
Congratulations Ben. Apprentice looked great coming through the lane.