Saratoga Springs, NY – Last year marked the breakout season for Squee Hanover (Crazed) as the Andy Gardner trainee won the local Open Trot seven times. After finishing up his campaign in red-hot fashion, Squee Hanover took about a month and a half off before returning to the Open last Sunday (Feb. 6).

Squee Hanover returned to the winner’s circle at Saratoga on Monday afternoon. Melissa Simser Photo.

The 6-year-old finished third in his seasonal debut and on Monday afternoon (Feb. 14), Squee Hanover looked to get back into the win column while participating in the $15,000 feature at Saratoga.

Billy Dobson was the regular reinsman for Squee Hanover during the majority of his late season hot streak in ’21 and has gotten off to a great start to his 2022 campaign in the sulky. Dobson powered Squee Hanover out to a pretty easy lead on Monday and from there, it was over.

The Gardner stable star loves the front-end and held firm on the engine before trotting away from his rivals in a mile clocked in 1:56.3 to record his first Open victory of the year. Last week’s Open winner Gigfy (Alek Chartrand) charged hard in the stretch to get up for second while Xcuseme (John Stark Jr) earned the show spot.

Squee Hanover was one of two 8-5 co-favorites on Monday and subsequently paid $5.40 to win. The $2 exacta and 2$ triple in the trotting feature returned $20.80 and $74, respectively. Squee Hanover, who is owned by the Exceed Stables of Lamar, PA, gave his trainer Andy Gardner one of his three winners on the Monday card.

Live racing continues on Tuesday afternoon (Feb. 15) with a matinee carded in place of the regular Sunday matinee, which didn’t occur due to it being Super Bowl Sunday. First post time Tuesday is set for noon.