When she takes to the Meadows this Saturday for the final of the Margaret Provost Memorial Trot, filly Kenziesky Hanover will bring an unusual name — and an unusual amount of talent — to the fray.
The $26,000 Margaret Provost Memorial Trot (Race 2, for fillies) will help comprise a quartet of sophomore series finals that will head postward Saturday at the Meadows. Also featured will be the Ruby Cook Memorial Trot (Race 3, for filly pacers), the Ben Wood Memorial Trot (Race 4, for colts and geldings) and the Tom Kirwan Memorial Pace (Race 9, for colts and geldings). In total, the finals will offer $101,900 in purses. First post Saturday is 1:05 p.m.
The naming of Standardbreds is a phenomenon that’s part science, part art, part frustration. All names proposed in North America must be approved by either Standardbred Canada or the United States Trotting Association, who, collectively, are the continent’s breed registrars. Each organization limits horse names to 18 characters, including spaces.
Hanover Shoe Farms, perennially the sport’s leading breeder, always uses ‘Hanover’ in its foal names. Add the space before it, and you’re left with only 10 characters to fashion colourful, creative names. Hanover’s website lists well over 300 broodmares, therefore, naming their foals is a challenge that the breeding nursery meets in part by inviting harness racing fans and Hanover staff to suggest handles.
Jodi Markle estimates that she’s named about 40 foals in the seven years she’s worked in administration at Hanover. She named Blaise MM Hanover for her son, for example, and that horse has banked more than $285,000 and continues to race. In similar fashion, she named Kenziesky Hanover (Cantab Hall-Kandor Hanover) for Kenzie Sky, the four-year-old daughter of her cousin, Mike Wolf.
Kenziesky Hanover, pictured winning the April 11 leg of the Margaret Provost at the Meadows (Chris Gooden)
Weanling/yearling purchasers have the right to change the names bestowed by breeders, so even the most clever or appropriate monikers may not last. That’s where the frustration can come in.
“That’s happened to me a couple times, but it doesn’t bother me,” Markle says. “I’ll just reuse the original names somewhere down the line.”
Kenziesky Hanover’s colourful name alone won’t pave the way to a win the Margaret Provost championship, but her talent might. The filly was purchased for a modest $7,000 by J. Patrick Huber and Glenn Congrove. The filly’s trainer, Bill Zendt, knows what shut down the auction so soon.
“I like her body and the way she looks, but her conformation is not the best,” Zendt says, “I was a little leery, but when she went for so little, Pat Huber wanted her. She showed signs of being a nice filly last year, but she got a little sore, and we quit with her early.”
Indeed, she had only two starts at two, but after a pair of in-the-money finishes to begin this season, she added lasix and put it all together in last week’s series leg. In that preliminary round she scored impressively on the front end in 1:57.2, which was the fastest mile in the series thus far.
“She raced [well] on the front, but I don’t think it really matters,” Zendt said. “There are three or four in the final who are real even, so it should be competitive. I don’t know where we’ll go with her after the series, but if she stays healthy, I think she’ll compete.”
Kenziesky Hanover will start from Post 5 on Saturday. Brian Zendt will be at her lines.
(With files from the Meadows)