The 2017 January Select Mixed Sale had a strong group of four-year-old racehorses consigned, with Dr J Hanover fetching the highest sale price.
Selling for $300,000 as a yearling, Dr J Hanover (Somebeachsomewhere - So Perfect) made just four starts at age two.
“He didn’t show up like we thought he should,” said trainer Tony Alagna about his freshman season. “We castrated him at the end of the year [2015] when we put him away and he came back this year [2016] much better. I think that’s part of the equation. Maybe just another year of maturing helped him too. But we weren’t going to take a chance and wait another year and find out we should have done it, so we took care of it last year when we put him away.
“He’s back training,” Alagna added. “We gave him a nice proper break, so he’ll be ready for the Levy if everything goes well. We’ll play it by ear. If he’s getting beat up in the Levy we won’t continue and we’ll get him freshened up and get him ready for the four-year-old restricted races. With the way the races are, and the money they’re going for at Yonkers, and if you have a horse that’s a half-mile track specialist, why not? Dr J Hanover got so good on the half, and that made him a horse. You normally don’t find that. He learned to leave the gate fast.”
Dr J Hanover blossomed late in his sophomore season, banking more than $280,000 in his last 10 starts. The three-year-old gelding concluded his campaign with a 7-0-5 summary from 15 seasonal starts and $316,716 in earnings to show for it and a mark of 1:50.1 taken at Pocono.
Clearly Alagna is confident in the colt's abilities as the trainer signed the sales slip on Dr J Hanover at $280,000 -- the highest priced horse sold thus far at the January Select Mixed Sale.
In addition, Alagna bought four-year-old pacing stallion American Passport for $135,000. American Passport also raced in Alagna’s stable at ages two and three, winning five of 27 races and earning $314,656.
“Some partners wanted out, some wanted to stay in; we’ll wait until the dust settles and see who’s staying in,” Alagna said. “It will be new partnerships put together for both horses.”
One of the new partners will be Canada’s Brad Grant.
“Brad and I have had great luck,” Alagna said. “He bought Wake Up Peter from me, he bought Sandbetweenurtoes, Revenge Shark, Witch Dali; he’s had a great run with horses that we’ve had. These fit what Brad is looking for. They’ll be nice horses for the four-year-old year."
There were a number of things that new owner Brad Grant liked about the new recruit.
“I like his speed,” said Grant. “He’s a very fast horse. I think he’s got a lot of upside ahead of him. He’s lightly raced. I really think he’s got a lot of racing ahead of him.”
Another solid three-year-old from 2016, Western Fame fetched a bid of $270,000 but that horse is listed as RNA (reserve not attained).
Important Links
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Sales Catalogue (PDF)
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Live Video (active during sale)
(With files from Harness Racing Communications/USTA)