Ralph Hanover

Ralph Hanover (1980 – October 18, 2008) was a

In addition to his 1983 Triple Crown wins, Ralph Hanover won seventeen additional pacing events including the very important Adios and Meadowlands Pace in the United States and the Prix d'Été in Canada at Blue Bonnets Raceway in which Ralph Hanover set a new world record for the fastest mile by a three-year-old on a five-eighths mile track with a time of 1:54 flat. He set a second world record time for three-year-old pacers on a half-mile track when he was clocked in 1:55 3/5. Ralph Hanover set yet another world record for earnings by a Standardbred horse in a single season with his 1983 earnings of $1,711,990. Ralph Hanover was again voted the Champion Canadian Colt & Gelding Pacer of the Year for his age group as well the 1983 Three-year-old United States Colt & Gelding Pacer of the Year Award. In 1986 he would be inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.^[8]

At stud and retirement

Retired to stud after his three-year-old season having been syndicated for $7 million by P. J. "Jack" Baugh, owner of the historic Almahurst Farm near Nicholasville, Kentucky.^[9][10] Ralph Hanover was not as successful as a sire to the degree his investors had hoped. He was eventually sent to stand at Grand Royal Farms in Vienna, Ontario where he was pensioned before the 2001 breeding season at the age of 21. When Grand Royal Farms closed he was sent to Mac Lilley Farms in Dutton, Ontario where he remained until he had to be euthanized after old age brought on a debilitating illness.^[11]

References