HIP 104 Cambridge Hanover was a record-setter on Monday in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, as he became the highest-priced yearling to go through the ring at the Standardbred Horse Sale and just the third seven-figure yearling at public auction in the sport's history as he was purchased by agent Andrew Harris for $1 million.
A Walner three-quarter brother to this year's Breeders Crown 2-Year-Old Colt Trot, Mohawk Million, Peter Haughton Memorial and William Wellwood Memorial champion Maryland, Cambridge Hanover was bred and consigned by Hanover Shoe Farms. Harris did his homework on the colt and came away impressed at every stage.
"My knees are shaking. You don't get used to those prices, but at the same time, you watch the video and I went to Hanover and watched him in the fields. I've never seen a horse move like that," recounted Harris. "We have Voguish that's also related to him and then Maryland, too. It's been a really nice family, and that was the one that I wanted the most. Usually it's me telling them no, but this is the one that I was like ‘no, I want this one.' I love this horse. I loved him when I saw him out in the fields. I loved everything about him. When your horse can move like that, it's hard to find those types, especially with the family. This one has to perform, but if you're going to take a shot at one, this is the one to take a shot on.
"There are so much higher purses for these trotting colts. You have more chances to get out on them. You've still got to get there and still have got to prove it, but if there was one that I wanted to spend more than what I'm comfortable spending on, it was this one."
Cambridge Hanover's sale was also a major moment for Dale Welk. Now the sales company president, Welk has been with the company for many years and is now been able to check off one significant item on his to-do list.
"I jokingly told Russell (Williams) I'm retiring. That was a goal I wanted to do," Welk stated. "I wanted to sell a $1 million horse here. I got emotional, I'm going to be very honest. I'm still a little choked up when I talk about it. It's a great feeling."
Coming in behind Cambridge Hanover at $760,000 was HIP 53 Swinging Loyalty, a Walner filly who is a half-sister to four multiple stakes winners in Ahundreddollarbill, Slay, Royal Mission and Royal Filly. She was purchased by Richard Gutnick for a group that will include Brad Grant and others. Linda Toscano will be the trainer.
"This time we wanted to get our top choice. I didn't think we were going to get it. (The bidding during her sale) was definitely totally insane," Gutnick admitted. "I expected it to go $650,000 to $700,000. I was prepared for that. I wasn't really prepared as high, and Linda kept saying ‘it's hard to get your money back when you go for this one this high.' I didn't listen this time. I had some partners who said 'if you're in, we're in,' so that makes life a lot easier. Dr. Jablonsky loved her also, and Linda loved her. When we saw her at Concord Stud, I loved a couple of them. I got HIP 3, but this was my top choice all along. I tried to save bullets for it; now I've got to rob the piggy bank.
"Just the way she looked when we turned her out at Concord, she's built phenomenally, and she does everything effortlessly," continued Gutnick. "I have a new rule. The trainer has got to love it, and I've got to love it. If one of us doesn't, we throw it out, no matter how much one may love it. In this case, we both were on the same page, except she wasn't on the checkbook page. She kept telling me, 'no, it's too much,' and it was too much, but you only live once."
Swinging Loyalty was consigned by Concord Stud Farm for breeder Jonas Schlabach, and despite Hanover having Cambridge Hanover for $1 million, Concord Stud Farm ended up as the leading consignor by average for the session, the second straight year they've accomplished that feat.
"With selling our one for $760,000 and then a bunch of other six-figure horses in there, we'll definitely take that," said Julie Meirs from Concord Stud Farm. "It's a lot of hard work, sweat, blood and tears that go into it, so it's nice when you're able to get rewarded. That was a client horse, and it's so nice to see Jonas be successful. I was very pleased with that. I wasn't sure where she would be, but I was happy with the number that we got."
Marcus Melander was very active and purchased four horses for $300,000 or more. One of them was HIP 79 Myths And Legends, a Chapter Seven full sister to his former trainees Gimpanzee and Iteration. Consigned by Concord Stud Farm, Myths And Legends went for $375,000.
"(She was purchased for) S R F Stable. Obviously he owned a part of Gimpanzee. He also bought Mandrill a couple of years ago," said Melander about Myths And Legends. "You never know. The prices for these trotting fillies are just crazy. You never know what they're going to go for. $375,000 is a lot of money, but still she has a lot of value. She was born a little late, so she's a little small, but she'll catch up.
"She's a good-looking filly, but she was born in June, so you can see she's not really developed yet. She'll be better in a couple of months I would think."
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Melander will also train HIP 82 Apex, who was acquired from agent Hunterton Sales Agency for $525,000 by Jeff Snyder. Apex is a Walner colt and is out of the great trotting filly Mission Brief. Melander has already had three of Mission Brief's previous foals - Jaya Bae, Vic Zelenskyy and Kadena.
"I thought the pedigree was as good as anything. He's New York and Kentucky eligible," remarked Snyder, who also joked that he was a "steal" at that price. "We own the sister Kadena. Kadena is a half-sister to this one, and there was another full sister Jaya Bae that was a very good filly that Marcus trained, but she went lame. She showed a huge amount of speed. We have high hopes for Kadena, and she was sale topper last year in Lexington for $800,000. This one was more racy-looking than Kadena and more racy-looking than Jaya Bae, not heavy. We went over him, x-rayed him. He checked all the boxes, and the whole family is wonderful."
Nancy Takter also signed a couple of big tickets, getting HIP 28 Sorcery Hanover for $460,000 and HIP 58 The Old Man for $450,000. Sorcery Hanover, bred and consigned by Hanover Shoe Farm, is a Walner sister to the Takter-trained triple millionaire Manchego, while The Old Man, a Walner colt who was consigned by agent Peninsula Farm, is out of former Takter trainee The Ice Dutchess.
"They're different individuals but nice individuals. I also trained Pink Chou Chou for Crawford Farms this year. It's a solid family and has produced," Takter offered about Sorcery Hanover. "She's worth every penny of what we just paid for her as a broodmare. I'm really happy with her. I think there are definitely some nice individuals here. Maybe not in the same quantity as there is in Lexington, but I think that the individuals are here. Here, you're going to pay a little bit more for them. It's supply and demand. I actually think that I paid less than I expected, so I was way under budget. I'm pretty happy with that and happy with my bidding."
The Ice Dutchess had the stakes-winning 2-year-old trotting filly R Dutchess this year, something Takter noted.
"I've never trained one of The Ice Dutchess's babies, but I trained her and she was a beautiful filly," she relayed. "This is a really nice colt. I actually saw him in Lexington before the Lexington Sale, so I knew that he was here, and I've kind of had my eye on him since then. I actually like that he's grown nicely from when I saw him earlier in Lexington. I was really happy with how he looked at the sale and was able to put a group together to get him.
"You have to kind of expect to pay that type of money for a horse that's bred like him. The mare's had good foals, too. The 2-year-old is a really nice filly. The price was fair."
Another yearling that topped the $400,000 mark on Monday was HIP 26 Sea Bistro Hanover, a Captaintreacherous brother to Dan Patch Award winner and now sire Pebble Beach. Agent David McDuffee purchased the Hanover Shoe Farms bred-and-consigned colt for $410,000.
"Pebble Beach was a terrific horse. He was a little smaller than this one, so I kind of liked the fact that this one was a little bit bigger and stronger-looking," McDuffee said. "You've got to pay for good horses. That's right where we had him pegged. We thought he'd go right around $400,000. Somebody else must've thought so, too.
"I'm going to try and buy some trotters, too, but we'll see. We bought a couple in Kentucky and we've got a couple of nice homebreds. We won't be buying too many more."
With all those big prices, it was no surprise that the session saw significant year-over-year gains in both gross ($16,558,000 in 2024 versus $15,223,000 in 2023) and average ($110,387 this year and $99,497 a year ago). That was a turnaround from last year when both the gross and average fell significantly from 2022, and that switch left Welk very pleased with where they stood.
"It's been a stellar day, just amazing. I can't thank the buyers enough. They really set the pace today and they kept going," Welk remarked. "I'm just happy for all the consignors, and after a year like last year, it makes you feel really good. Like I said in one interview, I take all that stuff personally, even though there's nothing I can do about it, I take it personally. I'll take a pat on the back after we have a day like today.
"I really think the market may be a little stronger than what I was thinking. I was optimistic but cautiously optimistic. As I've said a couple of times, we always have a little bit of trouble in a presidential election year. There was a lot of money here and a lot of the right people and a lot of great people. They're supporting everything. Like one guy told me, ‘if I'm going to lose all my money I want to have fun doing it.'"
Welk is also anticipating that Tuesday's session will be strong, as will the mixed sale at the end of the week.
"I really feel good about tomorrow. I think our middle market is going to be just fine. It kind of fell off in Lexington a little bit, but that's expected with the number of great horses they had. I think our middle's going to be strong," Welk offered. "We've got some real good yearlings to sell. Almost every consignor has something really good to sell tomorrow. Actually, I could have probably put 50 or 60 more today, but you want to get out of here at a decent time. Tomorrow's going to be a little longer. It'll be a damn near 10 hour sale tomorrow.
"I keep promoting it, but we're going to have a tremendous mixed sale, I think, too. On Friday we may have another $1 million horse. We'll see. I know it's going to be great."
Tuesday will see HIPs 157 through 552 sell starting at 10 a.m. (EST). The yearling-only portion will then conclude on Wednesday before the two-day mixed sale begins on Thursday.
--quotes by Derick Giwner--