Trotters took center stage in the next event as a compact but very classy and evenly matched field of six diagonally gaited specialists slugged it out for a purse of $143,000.

The big night continued for Gingras in this event and this time it really hit closer to home as Looking Hanover, a six-year-old son of Muscles Yankee who he shares ownership in with Dawn Gannon, found racing room deep in the stretch while rallying for a thrilling nose decision in 1:56.

Given a perfect steer by his co-owner, the high strung gelding grabbed command from post position four as the field trotted through a pedestrian opening quarter in :30.2.

With the action heating up on the backstretch, Gingras confidently elected to let a hard charging Lucky Jim (Marcus Miller) take control of the proceedings as the field trotted by the half-mile mark in :58.1.

“I knew the place to be on this night was up near the front, but I didn’t want to be cutting the mile out because that’s not how he races his best,” explained Gingras. “Lucky Jim seemed to be good and sound tonight even on the turns so I was pretty happy to be sitting in there right behind him.”

Content to save ground while sitting in the pocket, Gingras managed to get the Ed Gannon Jr. trainee to relax while Lucky Jim continued to show the way through middle splits of :58.1 and 1:26.2.

With the 2009 Dan Patch winner continuing to show the way through the lane Gingras began searching for racing room with Looking Hanover. Hot Shot Blue Chip (John Campbell) was also gaining ground in a hurry on the outside of horses leaving Looking Hanover to seek a seam to get through.

“At that point I was starting to get a little worried, but that wind was blowing horses every which way so I figured in the back of my mind that we would be able to find some room when we needed it,” said a relieved Gingras. “As it turned out it worked out perfectly because we stayed covered up until the last minute and then my horse just seemed to find another gear and managed to get by Lucky Jim which isn’t an easy thing to do.”

With less than a length separating the top three, Looking Hanover managed to poke a nose in front in the final strides to notch his seventh win in 25 starts this year. Lucky Jim wound up second while Hot Shot Blue Chip settled for third. Enjoying another big year while toiling on the east coast against some of the top trotters in the game week after week Saturday’s win pushed Looking Hanover’s career earnings over the $775,000 mark.