Earlier this year, Indictable Hanover looked to be one of the horses that would be a factor both provincially and in Grand Circuit competition. An injury derailed those plans, but the Casie Coleman Herlihy trainee is back and hoping to factor in the stakes events still to be contested -- including this Saturday's Ontario Sires Stakes Super Final.

“He trained back like a million dollars; I couldn't have been any more excited with him,” Coleman Herlihy told Trot Insider over the weekend. “I honestly thought I had a shot at racing at the North America Cup, the [Little Brown] Jug, and all kinds of stuff. He's extremely talented. I said that last year as a two-year-old, but last year, he actually kicked the cement paddock wall the day of his first qualifier and got bone bruising and he had to be turned out for the whole season.”

After finding his way to the sidelines early in his two-year-old campaign, Indictable Hanover managed to find his way back to the track early this spring, and in doing so he had his connections -- Coleman Herlihy and co-owners John Fielding & Mac Nichol -- hoping they’d see his true talent.

“This year, we got him back going and my whole plan was to have him ready early because he has no experience — he hadn't raced at all as a two-year-old,” said Coleman Herlihy. “My plan was to have him ready early — maybe race him at Pompano Park in Florida a couple times, maybe send him up to Mohawk and race in non-winners of one, non-winners of two races just to get starts under his belt before the NA Cup came up, because it's obviously normally in June. Anyway, I had him ready to go, basically, and it seemed that's right when the pandemic hit and everything was shutting down. I had him ready to qualify then, but now there was nowhere to race, so I just kept him where he was.”

Despite the patient approach to bringing back the son of Bettors Delight - Im Sassy and giving him ample time to get over the bone bruising setback, another issue derailed the colt just before the bulk of the revised stakes season was about to begin.

“I think his first start was in 1:50 or 1:51, and his second start was like 1:49. He was winning, so we were thrilled, but simply his body wasn't ready for those speeds. He just kept getting some tough miles and fast half-miles under his belt too soon, and he ended up having a tendon injury,” claimed Coleman Herlihy. “Whenever his last start was — he was in a Gold — he came in and just wasn't himself. He got on a line late; he was running in late. He raced well, but he wasn't himself. He didn't act sore, though.”

An ultrasound on his right front showed what looked to be a tear in the tendon, with the vet recommending that Indictable Hanover be shut down for the year and brought back as a four-year-old. Despite the troubling news, Coleman Herlihy wasn’t about to throw in the towel.

“I decided to go get a second opinion,” she added. “I sent the horse to Melissa McKee. Usually Melissa's very conservative, but Melissa's like, 'This isn't that bad.' She gave me a game plan. She was like, 'He's going to need some time, 100 per cent he needs some time off. You can swim him and keep him exercised. He needs to stay off it for a little while. I really do think this will heal quite quickly.'”

Coleman Herlihy followed the program for recovery of swimming and exercise as prescribed by McKee, and the tendon area continued to look better and better after each two-week follow-up.

“Finally, she gave me the green light. She said, 'This looks healed up. It's strong and healed and filled in. It looks fantastic.' It was crazy how fast it healed.”

Indictable Hanover's comeback race was an overnight event at Woodbine Mohawk Park, an assignment Coleman Herlihy realized would be a tough test.

“His first start, he was simply short,” she claimed. “We qualified him — I usually have them trained up tight; the horses are usually ready to go right away, but this was a different situation. I knew he was going to be a bit short, and I told James (MacDonald), 'I want to win, but do not come first-over and do not leave, whatever you do. He's got to come from off the pace...just let him pace hard at the end.'

“When I was thinking of who I'm going to use to drive this horse — I used to always make fun of James, saying, 'You're way too easy on a horse; you start back 10 lengths back out of the race.' And I said, 'You know what, he's going to fit this horse; this is what I need.' I need someone that's going to take him back and come charging late and not torture him, and that's what he did. So far, so good; we'll see how he keeps going.”

A pacer that could aptly be nicknamed ‘the comeback kid’ is clearly one that was worth waiting on based on the talent he’s showed his connections in his limited number of starts. If all goes well the pacer can still dance in rich events like the OSS Super Final, the Breeders Crown, the Matron and the Progress Pace.

“I think the world of this horse,” admitted Coleman Herlihy. “He's still very green, even though — here we are in October and he's three, but he's green, but he really is. He hasn't raced. He has hardly any experience just with the injuries he's had. Everything right now seems good, and I really do think he's a horse that will be heard of for many years as long as he stays together. We did right by him; we've done everything the vet told us to do. Right now, everything seems good.”

The Ontario Sires Stakes Super Finals take place this Saturday (Oct. 17) at Woodbine Mohawk.