by Melissa Keith

In the May 17 preferred handicap at Woodbine Mohawk Park, Ervin Hanover made one of the most hotly-anticipated returns in this year’s older pacing ranks. The 5-year-old son of Captaintreacherous—Eloquent Grace wired in back-to-back Mohawk qualifiers on May 2 and 9 for Louis-Philippe Roy, then stepped up for his first 2025 start, with Doug McNair taking the lines. They got away fifth behind the front-end winner, Dave Menary stablemate Brue Hanover, who easily held off place-finisher Nijinsky in that rival’s 4-year-old comeback. Ervin Hanover charged home for show, sixth lengths behind 2025 New Holland Series champ Brue Hanover.

On May 30 at The Raceway at Western Fair District, the two Menary trainees faced each other again, but over a smaller track.

Brue Hanover (p, 5, 1:49s; $418,633) began his career at Mohawk in 2022, and made his half-mile track debut on Dec. 12, 2023 at Yonkers, where he finished second as the beaten even-money favorite in a conditioned event. The 5-year-old Stay Hungry—Blind Ambition gelding had his first Yonkers victory on March 27, 2024, and would win just once more over that track in 10 tries last year, taking his half-mile track record of 1:52.1 on Sept. 16. He had never gone a faster trip, win or lose, on a half. The pacer, owned by Burke Racing Stable Llc of Fredericktown, PA and Weaver Bruscemi Llc of Canonsburg, PA, was on a seven-race win streak at Mohawk leading up to the $150,000 Camluck Classic. 

Ervin Hanover (p, 4, 1:47.3s; $519,427), owned by Pollack Racing Llc of Venetia, PA, began his racing career over Pennsylvania’s five-eighths-mile tracks. The stallion broke his maiden in his 2-year-old debut, on July 2, 2022 at The Meadows. His half-mile track debut came on Sept. 12, 2023, when he defeated six other pacers in a front-end trip from post 5 at Yonkers. Ervin Hanover’s victory did not translate into success at the Little Brown Jug: he finished fourth behind Ken Hanover in his elimination and did not make the final. At age 4, the stallion won again at Yonkers in an April 2 conditioned race, and finished a strong second from post 7 in his Charles Juravinski Memorial elim at Flamboro. Although a compact horse with a good record on small tracks, Ervin Hanover found his best results last November over the big track at Mohawk, as chronicled here in HRU, ending his season with a three-race win streak in the preferred.

James MacDonald sent Brue Hanover straight to the front in the Camluck Classic, under early pressure from Chase H Hanover into the first turn. Ervin Hanover scrambled around the opening turn three-wide from seventh, brushing to third along the backstretch, and clearing Brue Hanover coming off the second turn. McNair kept Ervin Hanover ahead of first-over Lous World approaching three-quarters, and maintained the lead at the top of the stretch. That’s when Brue Hanover made his move up the inside path, and leaped over the finish, ending up first-placed-third. 

Ervin Hanover paced his fastest-ever winning mile on a half in the Camluck Classic, a 1:52 individual performance. He had been individually timed in 1:49.4 in his Little Brown Jug elimination, his best beaten time on the smaller-sized track.

Was one of the Menary stablemates better suited to the dimensions of the London, ON track, or was it sheer racing luck that led to Ervin Hanover being elevated to his first 2025 win? Was Brue Hanover’s leap at the wire caused by his desperate effort to catch Ervin Hanover down the short stretch, the roar of the crowd, or something else? Given all the variables, it’s impossible to pin down one reason.

After the placing, interviewer Greg Blanchard spoke with Ervin Hanover’s driver on the walk back to the London winner’s circle.

“I’m just trying to hold my ground, you know what I mean?” said McNair, describing the deep-stretch battle. “I mean, they’re both Dave’s horses. The last thing I want to do is crash his legs and screw both of us. I thought I did hold my ground. I didn’t think there was enough room and I was surprised [Brue Hanover] actually did get through there. As we watched the replay, he had to go over the last pylon to do it, but my horse raced great.”

McNair stressed the importance of strategy on a half-mile track.

“On the first turn, Louis [Philippe Roy had] told me all about [how to drive Ervin Hanover early],” McNair said. “He said, ‘If he’s on the car, sometimes he won’t go to the gate.’ That’s exactly what he did tonight. We were in no man’s land on the first turn, and we were lucky where we are at the wire.” 

Asked about his decision to move to the front past the opening quarter, McNair said, “I had no other choice. It was either sit six or seven along the outside and grind away, and I would’ve had no shot of winning then. I took a shot at it. I think I got the best horse. It was only his second start [back], and he showed last fall [at Mohawk] how great of a horse he is. It’s just a pleasure to drive him… I’ve been trying to win this race since I was 18… I didn’t want to do it that way, but I’ll take it.”

Menary called the Camluck Classic “a half-mile chess match” in the winner’s circle after the race, adding that he hoped to race both Brue Hanover and Ervin Hanover in the $100,000 Mohawk Gold Cup invitational, slated for the Campbellville, ON track on Saturday (June 14).

“Ervin’s pretty heavily staked, Brue’s not,” Menary said. Ervin Hanover is sustained to the Canadian Pacing Derby, with eliminations Aug. 23 and the $540,000 final Aug. 30 at Mohawk, and is a likely contender for the $600,000 Breeders Crown Open Pace at Mohawk on Oct. 25.