by John Pawlak, the U.S. Trotting Association

Columbus, OH — Chances are, few North American eyes were cast towards Tabcorp Park in Melton, Victoria, Australia this past Sunday, August 22. But certainly Gordon Banks and Marc Hanover — two Americans who race in partnership as Enviro Stables — had given the races at Tabcorp their full attention.

That day, Banks and Hanover’s Aussie-bred freshman filly, Passions Promise, won the A$308,000 Australasian Breeders Crown Grand Final, thus giving Banks and Hanover a chance to wear “Crowns” in two hemispheres.

The race, in which Passions Promise banked A$189,000, was the richest race in the Southern Hemisphere for 2-year-old pacers. The winning filly has a thoroughly North American pedigree: She is by Modern Art and out of the Beach Towel mare My Silky Sand. She is trained by the famed Aussie tandem of Jayne Davies and Noel Alexander, and was driven in the Breeders Crown by one of Australia’s top drivers, Gavin Lang.

Lang, a winner of more than 4,000 races and known as “the Iceman,” brought the filly from off the pace and recorded a :56-3/10 final half-mile to prevail by a head over Sheezallattitude and Aussie Lombo. The 2,240 meter (approx. 1-1/2 mile) distance was covered in a mile rate of 1:58-4/10.

Passions Promise ended her freshman year with seven wins and one third in 10 trips behind the gate, and accrued A$237,795 in prizes in those 10 starts.

Enviro Stables had already won a North American Breeders Crown, having finished first and third with Molly Can Do It and Tupelo Rose, respectively, in the 2002 Breeders Crown for 3-year-old and up fillies and mares.