by Mike Paradise, publicity director, Maywood Park

Melrose Park, IL — The red-hot co-favorite Festivus (Brent Holland) got his nose in front at the wire to win for the eighth time in 12 season’s starts in Friday night’s $13,700 featured tenth race at Maywood Park.

Maywood Park Photo

Festivus (number 5) won Friday night’s $13,700 feature at Maywood Park. Elvis Hanover (number 2) was a nose short of the winner.

Elvis Hanover (Mike Oosting), who enjoyed a pocket trip behind the pacesetting Berley (Ryan Anderson), came up the open stretch and just missed pulling off a mild 5-1 upset at the end of the 1:54³ mile for $35,000 claiming horses raced on a “good” racing surface.

Only a disqualification from first place a week ago has prevented Festivus from seven consecutive Maywood Park victories for trainer Ronnie Roberts and owner Raymond Howard of Bensenville, Illinois.

“Festivus ($6.20) is very gutsy and versatility is his middle name,” driver Brent Holland said. “He can leave, he can sit, he can come first over, and he’s great off a trip. I’ve won with him now three times first-up, twice I’ve won with him traveling four deep around the last turn, and once I’ve won with him on the front end. He’s really happy just sitting outside of horses, looking to pass other horses and looking for new challenges. I can’t say enough good about him.

“At the start of this race I was looking for some pressure and was hoping to get a second-over trip, but no one ever was able to clear and give me the trip I wanted,” Brent added. “The end result was that my horse had a lot of pace off of pretty good fractions.”

The gray horse Berley (Ryan Anderson) left hard from the one slot and took the field through fractions of :27⁴, :55⁴ and 1:24³. Festivus was behind the 2-1 co-favorite Tiny Hope (Dave Magee), who went three wide on the backside, while Holland took Festivus four deep. The five-year-old gelding raced wide through the final turn but still proved best.

In the co-featured $13,100 ninth race the six-year-old New Zealand import Roland John ($16.00) zipped to a new lifetime mark in 1:53⁴ despite racing first up on the “off” strip.

It was Bronson Hall (Tony Morgan) who quickly got the lead before the first quarter and cut the first half fractions of :27¹ and :55³ before driver Andy Miller took Roland John out of fourth. The Falcon Seelster offspring cleared right before the 1:24² three-quarter pole and came home in :29² to give Andy Miller his third winning drive of the night.

The 2-1 favorite Bar Ron Boy (Dale Hiteman) took second, three and one-half lengths behind. It was another one and one-quarter lengths to the third place finisher Camptown Racer (Ross Leonard).

Roland John’s victory was his third of the season in 17 outings. He now has earned $36,500 for La Porte, Indiana owner Richard Gurrola.