August 4, 2007
It took trainer Steve Elliott 18 years to get another shot at glory in the $1.5 million Hambletonian, but Donato Hanover made it worth the wait when he won harness racing’s greatest prize on Saturday afternoon at the Meadowlands before an announced attendance of 26,115.
Even-money favorite Donato Hanover rolled to the half in a tepid 58.2 and rebuffed the challenge of 3-1 second choice Pampered Princess as they entered the top of the stretch. A strong late stretch run by 5-1 fourth choice Adrian Chip was not enough to catch Donato Hanover as he pulled away to a 1 1/4 length victory in 1:53.2. 30-1 outsider Laddie benefited from a second-over trip to finish third beaten 5 3/4 lengths.
Winning driver Ron Pierce, celebrating his second Hambletonian victory, said, "The speed hasn’t been holding out here all day, and everybody knew it, so everybody wanted to take a shot from the back. As slow as we were going, I even wanted to come from the back today. As slow as we were going, I had no choice but to go the front. I backed into everybody and I was surprised no one came sooner. I knew what I had. I did have to [ask him], twice. Not that I had to, because he was going to win anyway, but I wanted to make sure he kept trotting to the wire.” Pierce also won the 1993 edition with American Winner. However, this win was especially sweet. "It means a lot (to win this for Steve). Steve and I were kids rubbing horses back in the 1970s.”
Winning trainer Steve Elliott said, “It’s hard to compare different eras. Donato’s a bigger version of Valley Victory and a whole lot smarter than Valley Victory was. That horse was so full of himself. Valley Victory was like a precocious kid. This horse is very professional about everything." Elliott’s prize pupil Valley Victory was expected to take on the filly Peace Corps in the 1989 Hambletonian but was scratched out of the race because of a virus. Valley Victory would subsequently be retired.
Discussing the race running, Elliott added, “It makes you feel pretty good when you get to the half like that. When they go to the half like that, I think if roles were reversed and we’d been going to the half like that, we’d have been chasing (Pampered Princess) and in the same position. I said early this week that the trip would win the race and, being we got so slow to the half, we made it our trip. I was kind of hoping we’d be following somebody else, but it worked out for us today.”
Donato Hanover broke a 26-year jinx as he became the first Peter Haughton winner to take the Hambletonian at three. He is undefeated in five starts this year and has won 13 of 14 races overall. The colt is owned by David Scharf of New York, NY, Paul Bordogna of Fair Lawn, NJ, and Steve Arnold of Purchase, NY.
