This story on Malek Hanover winning the Walter Dale
Memorial appeared in The Daily Gleaner newspaper on Tuesday, July 2, 2013.
* * * * *
By NICK MURRAY
The third time was the charm for Bo Sowers on Canada Day.
Yesterday at Fredericton Raceway the Fredericton native realized a lifelong dream by having a horse win the 58th running of the Walter Dale Memorial Invitational Pace.
Earlier in the week, Sowers revealed that as a kid he said he'd either drive a horse and win it, or train a horse and win it. With fellow Frederictonian Todd Trites in the driver's seat, Malek Hanover - trained by Sowers - charged from the back of the pack to beat Windemere Express by less than a tenth of a second to win the premier race of the Fredericton Raceway season in 1:55.3.
A near-speechless Sowers said it was a great feeling to finally be in the victory circle at the prestigious race.
“We fully accomplished what we wanted to accomplish,” said Sowers. “It means a lot. It hasn't really sunk in yet, but it will.”
The third time was the charm for Bo Sowers on Canada Day.
Yesterday at Fredericton Raceway the Fredericton native realized a lifelong dream by having a horse win the 58th running of the Walter Dale Memorial Invitational Pace.
Earlier in the week, Sowers revealed that as a kid he said he'd either drive a horse and win it, or train a horse and win it. With fellow Frederictonian Todd Trites in the driver's seat, Malek Hanover - trained by Sowers - charged from the back of the pack to beat Windemere Express by less than a tenth of a second to win the premier race of the Fredericton Raceway season in 1:55.3.
A near-speechless Sowers said it was a great feeling to finally be in the victory circle at the prestigious race.
“We fully accomplished what we wanted to accomplish,” said Sowers. “It means a lot. It hasn't really sunk in yet, but it will.”
Meanwhile for Trites this was his fifth time winning the Walter
Dale Invitational and said it was a much closer finish than he's ever had.
“To me this is one of my bigger Walter Dales just because I know how much it meant to Bo,” said Trites who also picked up his third win of the day. He also scored with Miss Paula D in 1:59.4 and Jags Rasin in 2:00.
“I've always kind of done it for myself but today I really, really, just wanted to do it for Bo,” Trites said. “He gave me a good horse and I knew I had a good opportunity. I'm just glad everything worked out. That horse deserved a (win).” Malek Hanover got a bad post start in the sixth position on the outside and he and Trites sat at the back until the back stretch on the three-quarter mark before making his move on the outside.
Sowers and his horse, Grimsby, pushed the pace from the start but started falling behind after the halfway mark of the race. Windemere Express though, steered by Mark Haig, led for the entire race, until the final stretch where Trites and Malek Hanover made a desperate push on the outside to edge out Windemere Express.
“To me this is one of my bigger Walter Dales just because I know how much it meant to Bo,” said Trites who also picked up his third win of the day. He also scored with Miss Paula D in 1:59.4 and Jags Rasin in 2:00.
“I've always kind of done it for myself but today I really, really, just wanted to do it for Bo,” Trites said. “He gave me a good horse and I knew I had a good opportunity. I'm just glad everything worked out. That horse deserved a (win).” Malek Hanover got a bad post start in the sixth position on the outside and he and Trites sat at the back until the back stretch on the three-quarter mark before making his move on the outside.
Sowers and his horse, Grimsby, pushed the pace from the start but started falling behind after the halfway mark of the race. Windemere Express though, steered by Mark Haig, led for the entire race, until the final stretch where Trites and Malek Hanover made a desperate push on the outside to edge out Windemere Express.
 |
| James West Photo / The Daily Gleaner |
“I knew my horse would be handicapped with his post position and I would have to take a seat and hope a couple of guys get into a speed duel in front of me, and that's kind of the way it worked out,” said Trites. “I wanted to wait a little bit before I moved, then I moved them three-deep on the backside but I was afraid they maybe got too big a lead on me. I really didn't know if I had enough horse to chase him down and catch him, but I kept working my horse hard and I was just able to catch him at the wire.
While he may not have driven the winning horse, Sowers said even
training a horse to win the Walter Dale is satisfying, considering how much
work is involved in training a racehorse. “Malek's not an easy horse to drive
and I opted to go with something a little more aggressive myself,” said Sowers,
noting he didn't know if Malek Hanover had the win or not. “He can get a little lazy and I told Todd
before that race that you gotta work him. I wasn't quite sure until I pulled up on the
backstretch and Todd said, ‘Let somebody grab your horse and come down and get
your picture taken.’ Then I knew we had it. It was unreal.”
* * * * *
For more
historical data, pictures and stories please LIKE Fredericton Raceway 125 on Facebook.
No comments:
Post a Comment