Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Ideal News Favored in $681,100 Fan Hanover

August 23, 2005

Ideal News has won nine of 12 races this year and earned $261,416 after going winless in five starts as a two-year-old. On August 20, she joined Cabrini Hanover and Modern Medicine in winning elimination races to advance to the C$680,100 Fan Hanover Stakes final at Mohawk Racetrack near Toronto.

"She wasn’t very good at two," Holloway said. "You take hindsight into account, and she wasn’t very big. Now she stands about 16.2 [hands], but she certainly wasn’t that last year; she grew a hand or so over the course of the year. You look at that and think, ‘Boy, that must be why she didn’t do what we thought.’ You’re supposed to like your two-year-olds when you’re training them down, but she never raced up to our expectations. She went from being a disappointment to being one of the top fillies and a major contender in this division."

Ideal News was beaten by a head in her first start this year, but then won five in a row, including a three-race sweep of the Blossom Series at the Meadowlands in April. A month later, she won the $200,000 Miss New Jersey. She was fourth in the New Jersey Sire Stakes final at the end of June, her only finish worse than second this season, and took some time off. She returned to action on August 12 by winning a division of the Adioo Volo at the Meadows.

"We started her up early because coming off the year that she had you don’t know if you’re going to keep them eligible to all the major stakes," Holloway said. "She raced very well and then was able to get a little break because she didn’t have the Mistletoe Shalee [August 6]. That seems to have done her a lot of good. She seems to have come back even better than before."

The Fan Hanover field features five of the top six money-winning three-year-old fillies in North America, led by Ideal News. She is followed by finalists Chotat Milk, Lady Dillinger, Cabrini Hanover and Belovedangel in the rankings. Belovedangel is the second-fastest three-year-old filly of the season and Chotat Milk, who won the $357,000 Mistletoe Shalee by a head over Cabrini Hanover, ranks fourth.

"It’s a good field, but that’s what you get when you give away $600,000," Holloway said with a laugh. "By the time you get to this time of year, you don’t have a lot of surprises. You’re not going to find many new horses in the division to contend with, especially with the three-year-olds and older horses. By now, you know who’s out there."

Ideal News raced first-over from the half-mile point to post a 1¾-lengths win over Lady Dillinger in 1:52.1 in her Fan Hanover elimination race. Bound For Glory was third. Just Wait Kate, the morning line favorite, was scratched sick.

"She raced well and seems fine," Holloway said. "You’ve got to be close up, but ideally you’d like to be second-over. We had to come first-over quite a ways; we had no choice the other night. But that’s not the best."

Cabrini Hanover, who was a Dan Patch Award finalist as a two-year-old, won her elimination race in 1:52.1 by a neck over Western Cruise. Modern Medicine won her elim by a length over Belovedangel in 1:51.4.

C$680,100 Fan Hanover Final
Saturday, August 27 at Mohawk Racetrack
PP Horse                  2005 Record                    Driver/Trainer
1 Sub Rosa Hanover   11-2-5-0 $74,234 1:55.0F     R. Mayotte R. Mayotte
2 Cabrini Hanover     8-4-2-2 $204,540 1:51.3M    B. Sears J. Takter
3 Ideal News             12-9-2-0 $261,416 1:51.4F    D. Miller J. Holloway
4 Modern Medicine     5-2-1-0 $35,015 1:51.4S      B. Sears M. Burke
5 Life’s Omen            7-4-0-2 $39,194 1:53.0M     S. Condren E. Miller
6 Bound For Glory     11-3-3-3 $52,298 1:52.0S     B. Sears A. O’Sullivan
7 Chotat Milk            7-5-0-1 $254,710 1:51.0M     L. Ouellette V. Morgan Jr.
8 Belovedangel       11-4-5-0 $169,065 1:50.3M    J. Moiseyev R. McIntosh
9 Lady Dillinger        11-5-1-2 $218,450 1:52.3F   S. Coulter G. Hebert
10 Western Cruise     8-2-3-1 $23,904 1:52.0M      S. Condren E. Miller