Hanover (1884–1899) was a champion American
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are ...
racehorse won his first 17 races. He was the last American stallion to be the
leading sire in North America for four consecutive years until
Bold Ruler achieved the feat in 1965.
Background
Hanover was a chestnut
colt
Colt(s) or COLT may refer to:
*Colt (horse), an intact (uncastrated) male horse under four years of age
People
* Colt (given name)
*Colt (surname)
Places
*Colt, Arkansas, United States
*Colt, Louisiana, an unincorporated community, United States ...
bred at Colonel E. Clay's
Runnymede Farm
Runnymede Farm is an American horse breeding farm located outside Paris, Kentucky on U.S. Route 27, the Paris-Cynthiana Road. It is said to be the longest continuously running Thoroughbred horse farm in Kentucky, established in 1867 by American ...
. Hanover was by
Hindoo from Bourbon Belle by Bonnie Scotland. At the farm's yearling sale in May 1885, Hanover was sold to the
Dwyer Brothers Stable for $1,250, where he joined
Tremont, a very precocious two-year-old also born in 1884.
Racing record
Trained by
Frank McCabe, at age two, Hanover won all three races he contested: the
Hopeful Stakes
The Hopeful Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. Open to two-year-old horses, the Hopeful is the first Grade I stakes for two-year-olds each season and historically has ...
, the July Stakes, and the
Sapling Stakes
The Sapling Stakes is an American Ungraded Thoroughbred horse race run annually in early September at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, New Jersey. Open to 2-year-olds, it was raced on dirt over a distance of six furlongs for a current purse of $100,000 ...
. With Tremont retired, the Dwyers turned to Hanover as the mainstay for the Dwyer Stable. Hanover started in 27 races at the age of three, racing at distances ranging from four furlongs (800 m) to two miles (3,200 m.), he won 20 times (including the
Belmont Stakes by 15 lengths) and finished out of the money only once.
[Ahnert, Rainer L. (editor in chief), ''Thoroughbred Breeding of the World'', Pozdun Publishing, Germany, 1970] Before finishing his first two seasons of racing, Hanover had won 17 consecutive races.
After several losses at age four, and an obvious lameness to the right forefoot, Hanover was nerved and given the remainder of the year to recover. At age five, he lost three times in his first four starts, but finished the season with 9 wins from his 17 race starts. For most of his racing career, Hanover raced against older and top-class horses while conceding them large weights. Hanover stopped racing as America's greatest earner with a career total of $118,887. From his 50 starts, he won 32 races, was second 14 times, and finished third twice, only unplaced twice.
[Thoroughbred Heritage](_blank)
Retrieved 2010-10-30
Stud record
After his racing career ended, Hanover was sold to Colonel Milton Young and sent to his
McGrathiana Stud farm near Lexington, Kentucky, where he enjoyed a very successful breeding career, becoming the leading sire in the United States for four consecutive years (1885–1889). His offspring include Hall of Fame inductee
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
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, postal ...
, as well as David Garrick,
Halma
Halma (from the Greek word ἅλμα meaning "jump") is a strategy board game invented in 1883 or 1884 by George Howard Monks, an American thoracic surgeon at Harvard Medical School. His inspiration was the English game ''Hoppity'' which was ...
, Compute, The Commoner, Handspring, Half Time, and Yankee. In addition, he was the damsire of
Triple Crown
Triple Crown may refer to:
Sports Horse racing
* Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing
* Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States)
** Triple Crown Trophy
** Triple Crown Productions
* Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing
* Tri ...
winner
Sir Barton and also damsire of the great racing filly
Tanya
Tanya may refer to:
* Tanya (Judaism),an early work of Hasidic philosophy by Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi.
* Tanya (name), a given name and list of people with the name
* Tanya or Lara Saint Paul (born 1946)
* List of Mortal Kombat characters#Tany ...
, winner of the 1905
Belmont Stakes.
While pawing, Hanover was unable to feel the pain in his 'unnerved' foot, and broke his coffin bone. This led to septicemia, and his condition worsened before he was humanely euthanized in March 1899.
Following the creation of the
National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, Hanover was part of the first group of horses inducted in 1955.
Pedigree
Sire line tree
*Hanover
[Byerley Turk Line](_blank)
/ref>
/ref>
**Buck Massie
***Jake
***Buckleya
**Halma
Halma (from the Greek word ἅλμα meaning "jump") is a strategy board game invented in 1883 or 1884 by George Howard Monks, an American thoracic surgeon at Harvard Medical School. His inspiration was the English game ''Hoppity'' which was ...
***Alan-a-Dale
Alan-a-Dale (first recorded as Allen a Dale; variously spelled ''Allen-a-Dale'', ''Allan-a-Dale'', ''Allin-a-Dale'', ''Allan A'Dayle'' etc.) is a figure in the Robin Hood legend. According to the stories, he was a wandering minstrel who became a ...
****Barnsdale
***Smart Set
***Acacia
***Oversight
Oversight may refer to:
Governance
*Regulation – rulemaking
*Separation of powers in state governance (checks and balances) - the concept of separate branches of government or agencies exercising authority over one another
*Checks and control ...
****Mirebeau
****Insight
**Hammon
**Handsome
**The Commoner
***Simon D.
***Johnnie Blake
***Doctor Boots
***Countless
***Parmer
***Great Britain
**Ben Holladay
**Handspring
***Major Daingerfield
***Handout
****Trouble
**Heywood
***Palo Alto
**Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
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***Inflexible
****Textile
****Pluvious
***Strephon
***Dandelion
***Battleaxe
***Burgomaster
****Bourgeois
****Burgoright
****Glasgow
****Sebastolbol
****Portugal
***Orison
***The Irishman
***Baby Wolf
***Hillside
***Borrow
*** Buskin
***Prince Eugene
***Happy Go Lucky
**Handball
**Handsel
***Grover Hughes
***Colonel Livingstone
**Sanders
** Half Time
**Handcuff
**David Garrick
**Star of Hanover
**Withers
**Admonition
**Holstein
**Abe Frank
**Black Stock
***Mentor
****Wise Counsellor
*****Good Advice
*****Supreme Court
*****Deliberator
*****Barre Granite
**Kaffir
***Kaffir Boy
**King Hanover
***Prince Ahmed
**Luck and Charity
**Serpent
**Yankee
***Dinna Ken
***Yankee Gun
***Joe Madden
***Marse Abe
****Marse Hughes
***Naushon
***Nonpareil
***Penobscot
See also
* List of leading Thoroughbred racehorses
The list of leading Thoroughbred racehorses contains the names of undefeated racehorses and other horses that had an outstanding race record in specific categories. Note though that many champions do not appear on the list as an unexpected defe ...
References
* "The Spell of the Turf" by Samuel C. Hildreth and James R. Crowell, J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1926
Hanover's page in the Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hanover (horse)
1884 racehorse births
1899 racehorse deaths
Racehorses trained in the United States
Racehorses bred in Kentucky
Belmont Stakes winners
American Thoroughbred Horse of the Year
United States Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame inductees
United States Champion Thoroughbred Sires
Thoroughbred family 21
Byerley Turk sire line