Lebanon, OH — Cody Hanover’s lifetime best 1:51 win in the $35,000 Tom Tharps Memorial Series final, held Sunday (April 3) at Miami Valley Raceway, was a particularly proud moment for trainer Andre Nared — and for extremely good reason.

Cody Hanover captured the $35,000 final of the Tom Tharps Memorial Series in gate-to-wire fashion. Conrad photo.

“I’ve aimed this horse for this race ever since I saw the advertisement for it months ago,” Nared said. “Tom Tharps is my grandpa and I admired him a lot. I probably wouldn’t be in the horse business if it wasn’t for him.”

Nared has enjoyed much success with Cody Hanover since he started training him for owner Lionel Watiker early this year. In six starts under Nared’s tutelage, the 5-year-old son of Dragon Again has now recorded four wins and two second-place finishes while amassing $55,000 in seasonal earnings.

On this occasion, regular driver Dan Noble decided to gun Cody Hanover directly from post seven to the lead. He set moderate first-half fractions of :27.3 and :56.3, then turned on the jets in a :54.2 second half to hold all challengers at bay by 1-1/2 lengths. JK Going West (Trace Tetrick) put in a mild bid to finish second, while No Free Lunch (Tyler Smith) rode the pylons the entire way to earn third.

Cody Hanover paid $8.80 to win while the exacta returned $34.60.

A final pair of preliminary divisions of the Omar Hiteman Memorial Series were also presented on Sunday to determine the field for the $25,000 final next week. Heavy favorites EL’s Rocket (Mike Peterson, $2.80) and Big Fritz (Cameron McCown, $4.40) won their respective divisions, and will be joined by the other top money winners in the series: Rockin Sandsave, The Mad King, Seaside Way, Red Camo, Hoosier Hypnotic, DLs Hard Cider, Bettor By Seaside and Some High Dreamer. Due to a tie for ninth place in the final standings, the final will be a 10-horse race if all who qualified enter.

Racing at Miami Valley resumes Monday (April 4) with a 4:05 p.m. post time.