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Trenton, NJ — Elista Hanover is roaring into Saturday’s second of three eliminations of the $675,000 Hambletonian Oaks for 3-year-old female trotters at The Meadowlands as the 6-5 morning-line favorite with nine straight wins. This comes after an injury-hampered campaign at 2 in which she won just once in nine starts.
Trainer/co-owner Annie Stoebe says the horse is the happiest she has ever worked with, but is the filly happier with this year’s success than last year’s disappointments?
“Honestly, not necessarily,” Stoebe said. “She’s always been freakishly happy. You’re like ‘Why are you so happy?’ She’s just in her own little world and she’s happy to live like that. Some horses are difficult to keep happy. With her, she just needs a ridiculous amount of treats and she’ll do anything.”
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When the trainer was asked if she was happier, it emitted a chuckle.
“She was the first baby I ever got a piece of,” said Stoebe, who began training in 2017. “Last year when she injured herself, I was like ‘Oh my gosh, look what I got myself into.’ This year I feel completely different, obviously. This industry is a rollercoaster of ups and downs and she’s on an up right now and we’re just enjoying the ride.”
A ride that has been made even more enjoyable after the pitfalls of last year. Stoebe was excited to go in on the chestnut daughter of International Moni-Evermore with Lynn and Philomena Curry after watching her at the farm.
“We went out to look at her and honestly it wasn’t even the color, it was how she moved in the paddock,” Stoebe said. “She just floated across the paddock. I loved everything about her conformation and that’s the one we were set on.”
First there was a year of stumbling and now, a resurrection.
“We got her to the races late in the year,” Stoebe said. “She was a big growthy baby. We knew she had talent, but she was very fumbly gaited, she couldn’t accelerate or decelerate very easily. We knew the talent was there, she just needed to mature.”
The filly had one win, two places, and a show in earning $17,588 last year. With the jury still out on just how good she could be, Stoebe felt encouraged by how the horse trained down this year. After a third-place finish in a conditioned race to start her campaign, Elista Hanover headed to the Bobby Weiss Series at Mohegan Pennsylvania’s Pocono Downs.
“We put her in the Weiss and we thought, well, that’s gonna tell us what we have this year,” Stoebe said. “That was when she went on her escapades.”
Indeed, by winning the Weiss Series, Elista Hanover showed Stoebe exactly what she had, embarking on a winning streak the likes of which her trainer never imagined.
“She’s absolutely surpassed every expectation I’ve had, but training back as she turned 3, I knew there was something that had changed in her,” Stoebe said. “But until you line them up with a group of horses, they can train great at the farm, but you have to see them do it on the track. She just wants to do it.”
Elista Hanover enters her Oaks elimination off a 1:53.1 win in a division of the Tompkins-Geers Stakes for 3-year-old trotting fillies on July 20 at The Meadowlands. The horse did not race in the Del Miller Memorial on July 13 at The Big M, which is often used as a final prep for the Oaks. Instead, she raced in the W.N. Reynolds Memorial on June 29, which she won in 1:52.3 to equal her career-best time, and the Tompkins-Geers.
“Because of how many starts she had, I wanted to give her a week where she didn’t see a harness, so I skipped the Del Miller,” Stoebe said. “She already has enough starts. At that point, giving her a break was more important than racing her. Our goal is the Oaks, so that’s what we were looking to have her primed for.”
Stoebe said that at this point of the season she would prefer to go into the eliminations with six or seven starts. Winning the Weiss upped that total a bit, but driver David Miller feels it has not hurt the horse.
“When he got off the bike on Saturday, he said ‘Annie I don’t know how, but this is the strongest this horse has ever been,’” Stoebe said. “He was just like ‘Holy Moses!’ And after training her (Wednesday) morning, I couldn’t be happier with how she is coming into this weekend.”
Stoebe, who also has Chapalonia in the third Hambletonian Oaks elim, will be seeking her second straight trip to the Oaks final after finishing sixth with Instagram Model last year. Chapalonia is 8-1 on the morning line and will leave from post three with driver Andy McCarthy. Elista Hanover will start from post four Saturday in a field that includes Buy A Round, the 5-2 second choice, and Drawn Impression, who is 4-1.
The top-three finishers from each $50,000 elimination plus the fourth-place finisher with the highest lifetime earnings will advance to the $525,000 Oaks final Aug. 3 at The Meadowlands.
“Honestly I think I’m in the toughest division,” Stoebe said. “When I saw that, I thought well if we could beat them this week, I’ll be way more confident going into next week.
“David is gonna drive her like he needs to. I don’t have to tell that man one thing. He’s in charge of her when she’s on the racetrack. We want to see how she compares to these other ones she hasn’t seen yet.”
And however the race takes shape, Elista Hanover should be able to adapt.
“She’s probably the most versatile horse I’ve ever trained because she doesn’t get worked up about anything,” Stoebe said. “Just in the last couple starts he’s left with her, he’s put her in a hole, first-up, on the front. He’s really put a lot of quality tricks in her bag so even if the race doesn’t play out like he expects, he knows he has other options.”
In addition to the Oaks elims, The Meadowlands will host two $100,000 eliminations for the Hambletonian Stakes. The top-five finishers from each elim will advance to the $1.05 million Hambletonian final, the sport’s premier race for 3-year-old trotters, Aug. 3 at The Big M.
Elimination winners draw for post positions one through five followed by the remaining finalists receiving their posts in an open draw. The Hambletonian and Oaks draws will be conducted Tuesday (July 30) at Hogan Equine Clinic in Cream Ridge, N.J.
Racing begins at 6:20 p.m. (EDT) at The Meadowlands. For free TrackMaster programs for the Big M, click here.