After 339 career starts, millionaire and multiple stakes winner Lucan Hanover has been retired.
A son of Western Ideal - Lauren Order, Lucan Hanover picked up multiple stakes victories as a sophomore under the tutelage of trainer Casie Coleman. His biggest win came in the 2013 New Jersey Classic final, winning that $250,000 stakes event in a time of 1:48.3. Lucan Hanover also scored victories in eliminations / heats of the Breeders Crown, Little Brown Jug and Messenger, finishing third in the finals of the Breeders Crown and Little Brown Jug while notching runner-up tallies in the American National and Windy City Pace.
His 1:49.4 mile in the second first heat division of the 2013 Little Brown Jug was a world record for three-year-old pacing geldings on a half-mile track.
Owned and campaigned by Maine's Aaron Hall (pictured above) since May 2021, Lucan Hanover has competed consistently at tracks across Maine over the last four seasons while making the occasional foray into New York and Massachusetts. His final start came on Friday, Dec. 13 at First Tracks Cumberland, with Hall guiding the 14-year-old to an easy wire-to-wire score in 2:00 for career victory no. 75.
Lucan Hanover retires with more than $1.4 million in purses.
The staff and management of First Tracks Cumberland would like to take this opportunity to offer hearty congratulations to the 2024 inductees to the New England Harness Writers Hall of Fame. The esteemed group includes Walter Case Jr. and Kevin Switzer Sr., as well as posthumous honourees Mike Andrew and Bill Varney. The four individuals will be formally recognized at the Maine Harness Horsemen’s Association annual banquet on Dec. 28 in Auburn, Me..
The live harness racing action continues on Saturday, Dec. 14 with a 10-race card, which includes a $6,500 USD Winners Over Trot. The early morning line favourite is Jax Spratt (5-2, Kevin Switzer Jr.) who never looked back last week while leaving from pylon position. Empereurthebest FR (3-1, Walter Case Jr.) and Inquiring Mind (7-2, Steve Wilson) are also coming off of wins last week.
There is also a $6,000 USD Winners Over Pace on Saturday, led by Varney (2-1, Nick Graffam) who has earned $90,827 this year and been 18 times 1-2-3 in 32 outings. The second choice, and last week’s victor, is Sixfingerfreddie (3-1) who gave top reinsman Drew Campbell his 6,000th career victory.
The card on Sunday, Dec. 15 boasts nine divisions of the numerous pop-up series, with purses ranging from $6,000 to $8,000 USD, along with the weekly $4,000 USD Maine Amateur Driving Club race.
On each of the three racing days the Pick 5 starts with the third race, continues with the Pick 4 and Pick 3 toward the tail end of the program, and concludes with a High-Five Pentafecta in the final race — all with low 16 percent takeouts.
(with files from First Tracks Cumberland; photo from a 2023 win)