by Greg Gangle, WEG media

Toronto, ON — A combination of bad post positions and sickness caused Hamlin Hanover to fail to find the winner’s circle in five career tries until last week. The 4-year-old son of Cam’s Card Shark scored his first career victory in 1:52 in last week’s C$20,000 elimination of the Snowshoe Stakes.

Now, heading into Friday’s (Jan. 14) rich C$60,000 final, trainer David Menary seems more optimistic than ever before.

New Image Media photo

Hamlin Hanover is the 5-2 morning line favorite in the Snowshoe Stakes Final.

“We finally have him right,” Menary commented. “Many horses got sick in my barn recently and he was one of them. When we finally got him healthy, he got the outside posts and he doesn’t get off the gate that well.”

In last week’s elimination, Hamlin Hanover was heavily used with a first-over attack to score the half-length victory, a time which didn’t catch Menary by surprise.

“He has a lot of speed but he’s very green,” Menary said. “He has a very good shot at winning (Friday) night’s final. He’s better coming from off-the-pace which doesn’t bother me because there are about four horses (in the final) with good gate speed.”

Menary, a resident of Cheltenham, Ontario, celebrated a career high in wins and earnings last season. He sent out 107 winners from 384 starters with C$2,376,310 in seasonal earnings.

Hamlin Hanover has been installed as the 5-2 morning line favorite in Friday night’s fifth race for Menary and co-owners Francis Richard, Brenton Harris and Stephen Johnson.