by Mark Ratzky, Cal-Expo publicity department

Sacramento, CA — The good news would be that the sophomore trotter Giles LS Hanover has won three of his five starts for trainer Bob Johnson, while the not so good news is the fact that he has made breaks in three of those efforts.

“He’s not just a work in progress, he’s a lot of work in progress,” related Johnson, who co-owns the son of S J’s Photo with David Neumeister. “I’ve had him for about four months now, and he was one of four horses we bought back east from Greg Wright.”

Ed Hensley handled Giles LS Hanover in his first two outings, scoring at first asking despite making an early break. The trotter then jumped it off again at next asking and finished up the track as the 1-2 chalk. Jim Lackey has handled him in his most recent three trips to the post, with a pair of victories sandwiching a race where he went off-stride turning for home.

In last week’s tour, he made 70 cents on the dollar look like a gift as he took his time making his way to the leaders on the far turn, then came home in impressive fashion to draw off by over three lengths for Lackey.

“He got distracted in that race two back and that’s why we think he made the break,” explained Johnson. “His race last week was a real good one, though.”

His mentor noted that Giles LS Hanover is currently dealing with a pair of issues.

“We’ve found out that he has EPM, which is a nervous disorder, and we’re treating him for that. He’ll race the one more time this week and then we’ll be off for that month and a half, and during that time we’ll be able to step up those treatments.

“He’s also had some problems with his back end, so we’ve been giving him acupressure, and that seems to have helped. The time off during the break should do him a lot of good.”

The other horse to have started from that four-horse package from the east is the trotting mare Santa Rosalia, who landed in the winner’s circle less than a half-hour after her stablemate last week. This gal made it look easy, with two moves to the lead at the half en route to a 5-1/2 length romp. They both turn up in Thursday’s fourth race, drawing the two inside slots.

The final week of live harness racing for the spring-summer meet will resume at Cal-Expo on Thursday (July 31) and continue through Saturday (August 2).