With the 2025 O'Brien Awards less than one week away, Trot Insider continues to shine the spotlight on this year's finalists, this time featuring the Older Pacing Horse category.
The divisional finalists are three Hanover Shoe Farms-bred horses: Brue Hanover, Calicojack Hanover and Ervin Hanover.
Brue Hanover was a major force in Ontario after returning to the province in March. He swept the New Holland Series upon his arrival, winning both legs and the final by open lengths for new trainer Dave Menary, who has two finalists in this category. That triple commenced a run of 11 wins in 12 starts, with the sole loss in the Camluck Classic, when he was placed third for a pylon violation after crossing the line first.
“He'd come up for the New Holland Series, and that series really fit him like a glove,” Menary said. “He got on a huge roll, and the horse was just brimming with confidence. He's just a class act. I think that's pretty close to the most I've ever won with a horse, if he had won 12 in a row.
“He was just so brave, and the drivers love him, because he's the kind of horse where you can snap him right off the gate, put up a quarter in :25.2 and then go a quarter in :32.”
In the midst of that purple patch, Brue Hanover took on a field of many of North America’s top open pacers in the Mohawk Gold Cup. In line to Yannick Gingras, the son of Stay Hungry-Blind Ambition put them all behind him and went gate-to-wire, holding off pocket-tripping favourite Nijinsky in a lifetime-best 1:47.4. He went on to win another two Preferreds in a row before a narrow defeat to fellow finalist Ervin Hanover and a fifth-place finish two weeks later, after which he went on an extended rest.
“It was unbelievable how good he was and the trip he went and what he had in the tank the night of the Mohawk Gold Cup,” said Menary, who conditions him for Burke Racing Stable LLC of Fredericktown, Pa. and Weaver Bruscemi LLC of Canonsburg, Pa. “I think he was electric that night.”
Brue Hanover returned in November and picked up cheques in three Opens with a fourth, a third, and second in sequence, each time behind an in-form Taurasi. He ended his five-year-old campaign with 13 victories and $324,637 in earnings in 21 outings.
Calicojack Hanover’s crowning moment came early in the season when he won the Charles Juravinski Memorial Cup at Flamboro Downs on May 18. The four-year-old rode the pocket until making his move on the last turn and overhauled Howlenthehills to win in 1:50.2, replicating his time from his elimination win. He then took on the Graduate Series, finishing second twice in preliminary legs.
“The four-year-old season's always tough, especially if you're not racing against only four-year-olds, but when he had to [step up] he did pretty well,” said Louis-Philippe Roy, who drove him in seven starts in 2025. “He won the Juravinski at Flamboro, and then raced well in the Graduate Series, and then after when he raced against the older horses. He raced well all the time.”
The son of Captaintreacherous-Charisma Hanover took a mark of 1:49 in a conditioned event in September at Mohawk, which he won by five lengths, prompting a step up to Open company. He took his first career win at that level on Sept. 27 in 1:49.3, defeating the likes of 2024 O'Brien Award winners Nijinsky and Taurasi, and won an Open-2 on Oct. 11 in 1:49.2. Trained by Luc Blais for Determination of Montreal, Que., Calicojack Hanover put together a 6-6-0 scoreline with $324,607 in earnings from 22 starts.
Menary’s other finalist in this division, Ervin Hanover, caught fire in the second half of the season, winning eight of nine races from August to October. He capped off that streak with a 1:46.2 victory in the Breeders Crown Open Pace at Mohawk, making him the fastest horse ever on Canadian soil. The stakes win was his third in a row, following victories in the Ewart Memorial at Scioto Downs on Sept. 6 and Dayton Pacing Derby at Dayton Raceway on Sept. 27.
“We staked him right to the gills,” Menary said of the approach to Ervin Hanover's five-year-old season. “And he wasn't poor at the beginning of the year, but he got off to just a little bit of a slow start. I think it was one of our hottest summers ever, and the heat of trucking him was kind of wearing on him a little bit.
“Once he got to stay home for a little while and the weather cooled down, he really just kept getting better and better. The night of the Breeders Crown, everything just lined up, and I was awfully proud of his performance.”
Ervin Hanover tallied two victories in his first seven outings of the year, one of which was his inherited victory in the Camluck Classic, and another in a Preferred at Mohawk with a 1:48 clocking. The Captaintreacherous-Eloquent Grace stallion then won two straight Preferreds and his Canadian Pacing Derby elimination before a valiant loss in the final. He made two moves to the lead in that race and was pressured from the half, and he was picked off in the final strides by a surging Maximus Miki. What followed were the Ewart and Dayton Derby wins, as well as a victory in a Free For All at Mohawk, all of which were timed in 1:47.2. He ended the year in ninth in the weekly Hambletonian Society/Breeders Crown poll, making him the sport's highest-ranked older pacing male. He earned $1,167,568 and won 10 times in 17 starts for owner Pollack Racing LLC of Venetia, Pa., and after being named a finalist in this division he was named the 2025 Dan Patch Award winner in the Older Male Pacer category.
“You can't top the Breeders Crown,” said Menary, who is also a finalist for Trainer of the Year. “It was just such a big mile that night, and he probably could have even went a little bit more. But the Canadian Pacing Derby was pretty exciting. That's about as good as a horse could race in defeat.”
The winners will be announced at the O’Brien Awards Gala on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026 at the J-AAR Expo Centre at Western Fair District in London, Ont. This year marks the 37th edition of the O’Brien Awards, named in honour of the late Joe O’Brien, an outstanding horseman and Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee.
(Standardbred Canada; photos courtesy of New Image Media and Racehorsephoto)