Yursa Hanover Leads All the Way to Win $150,000 Conway Hall Trot

Yursa Hanover blew away six standout rivals while breezing to a 1:54.2 triumph in Friday night’s $150,000 Conway Hall open mare trotting contest at Vernon Downs.

Second choice to Windsong Soprano in the sixth race wagering, Yursa Hanover ($6.90) went right to the lead from post four and led through splits of :27.3, :57-flat and 1:26 en route to a 1-1/2 length verdict over the crown-wagering choice.

Autumn Escapade finished another half-length back in third, while Buck I St. Pat, racing for purse money only due to a scratch of stable mate Southwind Wasabi, finished fourth.

Daniel Dube did the driving for trainer Benoit Baillargeon as the 4-year-old daughter of Windsong’s Legacy-Yankee Topaz earned her third season’s score and 12th lifetime tally.

Richard Berthiaume owns the career-winner of $820,835, who posted her 1:52.3 record earlier in the campaign.

Tracy Brainard’s Scorpion Moon secured her third straight score with a 1:55.1 victory in Friday’s $15,000 Miracle Mile-1 trot, while the Brainard-trained newcomer Slimsplace, owned by Jeffrey Gillis and Ellen Ott, turned in a 1:52.1 career-best mile while winning the week’s top Miracle Mile class for female pacers.

Tim Tetrick, who chalked up five victories during Friday’s 13-race program, drove both of those first-place finishers.

Divisions of Friday’s $30,000 Kindergarten Classic clashes for 2-year-old male trotters went to Swan In A Million (1:57), Manofmanymissions (1:56.3) and High Pan Tolerance (1:58), while the filly flights were won by Centrifical Force (1:59.1), Seducedbychocolate (1:57.4) and Beatgoeson Hanover (1:57.4).

In addition to Tetrick’s fine performance, and Brainard’s three conditioning credits, drivers Andy Miller, David Miller and Daniel Harvey, as well as trainers Erv Miller and Maurice Bazinet were each two-time winners during the track’s 62nd program.

After Friday’s eighth event, Vernon’s all-time driving champion Jack Bailey (16 titles), along with driver Brian Sears, owner Ken Jacobs and announcer Jim Moran were recognized as Vernon’s representatives into the Upstate New York Chapter of the U. S. Harness Writers Association initial Hall-of-Fame class, that also includes Clint Galbraith, Buddy Gilmour, Jeff Gregory, Jeff Gural, Guy Howard, Gerry Sarama, Ray Schnittker, John Schroeder and Dave Vance.

DOWNS DOINGS—The times turned in by Seducedbychocolate and Beatgoeson Hanover were just 4/5ths-of-a-second off the track’s record for frosh female high-steppers…Saturday’s 12-race program, that includes several Miracle Mile pacing divisions and three flights of a New York Sires Stake for 2-year-old male side-wheelers, will begin at 6:55 p.m.