On Friday (Jan. 20), the Living Horse Hall of Fame nominating committee of the Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame announced the results of recent balloting to determine the 2023 inductees into the Harness Racing Living Horse Hall of Fame. Museum members voted for the three horses they felt best exemplified greatness. Their choices are Hannelore Hanover, McWicked and Yankee Glide.

Hannelore Hanover, McWicked and Yankee Glide will be inducted on Hall of Fame Day, Sunday, July 2, 2023. The ceremonies honouring these extraordinary Standardbred horses will take place during the Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame’s annual dinner.

Standardbreds are eligible for nomination to harness racing’s highest accolade only if they comply with strict criteria as noted on the Museum’s website. The complete list of elected horses to the Living Horse Hall of Fame can be found here.

HANNELORE HANOVER
(Nominated as Racemare)
5,1:49.2 ($3,303,952) Brown Mare, 2012
(Swan For All – High Sobriety – Dream Vacation)

World champion trotting mare and 2017 Horse of the Year Hannelore Hanover raced from 2014-2019. She had 46 wins in 87 lifetime starts, finishing on the board in 71 races while earning $3.3 million.

Hannelore Hanover was lightly raced as a two-year-old. As a three-year-old she earned $295,574 with eight wins and eight seconds in 19 races. Her biggest payday was in the Indiana Sire Stakes final, winning easily in 1:54.

In 2016, four-year-old Hannelore Hanover posted a 20-17-2-0 race record with $1,194,334 in earnings. Major victories included the Breeders Crown, Hambletonian Maturity, Centaur Trotting Classic, Armbro Flight (in a world record-equalling 1:51) and TVG Free For All. She was voted Dan Patch and O’Brien Older Trotting Mare of the Year.

As a five-year-old in 2017, Hannelore Hanover’s 10 wins out of 17 starts included the Breeders Crown, Maple Leaf Trot, Armbro Flight, TVG Mares final and the Allerage at The Red Mile, where she recorded what was then the fastest mile in history by a trotting mare (1:49.2) and the fastest all-age trotting record on a mile track for both sexes. Hannelore Hanover finished the season with $1,152,361 in earnings and was voted 2017 Dan Patch and O’Brien Horse of the Year, Dan Patch Trotter of the Year, and Dan Patch and O’Brien Older Trotting Mare of the Year. She was the first trotting mare to be named Horse of the Year since Moni Maker in 1999.

In 2018, Hannelore Hanover had six wins in 13 starts including the Armbro Flight and Cutler Memorial. She wrapped up her racing career as a seven-year-old in 2019 with four additional wins.

McWICKED
(Nominated as Racehorse)
p,7,1:46.2 ($4,930,967) Bay Horse, 2011
(McArdle – Western Sahara – Western Ideal)

With $5,103,271 in earnings, 2018 Horse of the Year and world champion McWicked is the richest pacing stallion in history and the second-richest North American Standardbred. He raced from 2013-2019 and compiled a lifetime racing record of 110-40-26-16.

In his sophomore season, McWicked compiled a 23-12-5-4 racing record with earnings of $1,482,447, most of any pacer in 2014. Major wins included the Breeders Crown, Max Hempt Memorial, Adios, Progress Pace and Pennsylvania Sire Stakes. McWicked was elected 2014 Dan Patch and O’Brien Three-Year-Old Pacing Colt of the Year. Lightly raced as a four- and five-year-old, McWicked bounced back as a six-year-old, winning seven races and earning $560,025.

 As a seven-year-old in 2018, McWicked led the sport in earnings. Capping his campaign with a five-race win streak, McWicked won 12 of 19 starts, hitting the board 17 times. Victories included the Breeders Crown, Ben Franklin, William Haughton Memorial, Canadian Pacing Derby, TVG Open Championship, Dan Rooney and Allerage – in 1:46.2, at the time the second-fastest mile in history. His earnings of $1,662,094 at age seven made McWicked the oldest horse to ever top North America’s single-season earnings list.

McWicked became the oldest pacer in history to be named Dan Patch Horse of the Year. He was also voted Dan Patch Pacer of the Year and Older Pacing Horse of the Year and, in Canada, Horse of the Year and O’Brien Older Pacing Horse of the Year.

In 2019, eight-year-old McWicked earned $1,053,576, posting wins in the Jim Ewart Memorial, Joe Gerrity, Dan Rooney and Allerage, and was voted Dan Patch and O’Brien Older Pacing Horse of the Year.

YANKEE GLIDE
(Nominated as Stallion)
3,1:55.1 ($506,904) Bay Horse, 1994
(Valley Victory – Gratis Yankee – Speedy Crown)

As a two-year-old in 1996, Yankee Glide won five of six starts, earning $342,145. Major victories included the New Jersey Sire Stakes final and the Peter Haughton Memorial. In his sophomore season, Yankee Glide finished on the board in five of 11 starts while earning $164,759. Major wins included a Hambletonian elimination and the Zweig Memorial.

To date, Yankee Glide has sired winners of over $106 million including 10 millionaires, with 289 $100,000 winners and 202 in 1:55. Yankee Glide is the sire of 2005 Breeders Crown and 2006 Hambletonian Oaks winner Passionate Glide 3,1:52.2 ($2,131,377); 2006 Trotting Triple Crown winner and Dan Patch Horse of the Year, world champion Glidemaster 3,1:51.1 ($2,038,575); world champion and 2007 Breeders Crown winner Mystical Sunshine 6,1:50.3 ($1,976,885); 2006 Goldsmith Maid, 2008 Armbro Flight and 2007 Kentucky Futurity Filly Division winner Falls For You 4,1:52.2 ($1,326,357); and world champion Manofmanymissions 3,1:52.1 ($1,213,603), winner of the 2010 Breeders Crown, 2011 Kentucky Futurity and 2011 Colonial.

As a broodmare sire, Yankee Glide has sired the dams of winners of over $113 million with seven millionaires. He is the broodmare sire of 2012 Hambletonian and Canadian Trotting Classic winner Market Share 5,1:50.2f ($3,792,877); two-time (2013-2014) Breeders Crown winner and 2013 Two-Year-Old Trotting Filly of the Year Shake It Cerry 3,1:51.2 ($2,863,184); two-time (2019-2020) Breeders Crown and 2020 Kentucky Futurity winner and Three-Year-Old Trotting Colt of the Year, world champion Amigo Volo 3,1:50.2f ($2,143,686); and 2016 Breeders Crown and 2015 Cashman Memorial winner Flanagan Memory 6,1:52.2s ($1,674,499). 

This year’s Hall of Fame festivities include the inductions of Frank Antonacci, Per Eriksson and Lucien Fontaine to the Hall of Fame; Charlie Coleman, Gordon Gilbertson, Ira Malott, Margot Taylor, Edward Willis, Adios Scarlet and Exciting Speed to the Hall of the Immortals; and Bob Roberts and Ken Warkentin to the Communicators Hall of Fame. For information on the Hall of Fame weekend and other activities surrounding this important occasion visit the Museum’s website from April 2023 onward or call or write the Museum at 240 Main Street, Goshen, N.Y. 10924. Phone: 845-294-6330.

(U.S. Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame)