posted on 9/12/2012 12:36 pm
As a young man in the early 1960’s living in Queens, New
York sports of all kinds played a big role in my daily life. Building a business during the day gave me an
opportunity to pursue other interests at night.
One of those pursuits was attending nightly harness racing at nearby
Roosevelt and Yonkers Raceway.
One summer night in 1965 at Yonkers Raceway, I saw a 2 year
old pacing colt that impressed me for his shear speed by getting around the
half mile track. Romeo Hanover’s 2:01H
effort established a new stakes record for the Lawrence B. Sheppard Pace. What intrigued me the most about Romeo
Hanover besides his blazing speed was his great pedigree.
When I looked back the dam of Romeo Hanover, Romola Hanover,
went on to produce countless colts such as Romulus Hanover, Nevele Romeo,
Romano Hanover, Dexter Hanover, Irish Jimmy and the great filly Romalie
Hanover.
Romola Hanover had another filly a foal of 1972, Romona
Hanover. She would only win 4 races but
as a broodmare Romona Hanover would be responsible for the Big Towner filly
named Rodine Hanover a foal of 1982.
Rodine Hanover was purchased by trainer Jerry Silverman as a
yearling. She went on to take a record of
1:54 and earned $231,630. She was
purchased by Almahurst Farms as a broodmare and was bred to the great racehorse
Nihilator. Two of her resulting foals
would be the fillies Perfect Profile and World Order.
Perfect Profile would become the dam of Perfect Art
($629,122) and the great Art Major ($2,727,224). Both colts were bred by Brittany Farms after
the purchase of Perfect Profile as a weanling at the Almahurst Farms pacing
dispersal.
World Order ($267,205) was purchased as a broodmare by the
late Joseph Parisi for his White Birch Farm in 1997. She plays a major role in modern pacing
bloodlines. World Order was bred to the
super sire Artsplace. Her 1999 foal
would be named Worldly Beauty. She would
go on to win 21 races and earn over $1,900,000.
Her 2005 foal by Artsplace, Worldly Treasure, would become
the dam of the potential superstar Captaintreacherous. He has already won the Woodrow Wilson,
Nassagaweya and the Metro Pace in his freshman year. He has taken three sub 1:50 records with his
best time right now at 1:49.2.
When I visited White Birch Farm last August along with
trainer Tony Alagna we were looking to purchase the best son of
Somebeachsomewhere and we thought we found him in Captaintreacherous.
Forty- seven years after Romeo Hanover comes the “Captain”.
MLB
