by Ken Weingartner, Harness Racing Communications

Harrisburg, PA — Record sales on Monday (Nov. 7) highlighted the opening day of the Standardbred Horse Sale, which saw a 4.9 percent increase for the average price compared to last year.

This year, a total of 242 horses sold for an average of $54,719. In 2010, the average was $52,157 for 248 horses.

Leading the way was the record $825,000 sale of trotting colt Detour Hanover, a full brother to 2007 Horse of the Year Donato Hanover. The sale, to brothers John and Tom Cancelliere, shattered the record for a Standardbred yearling sold at public auction, topping the $650,000 for trotting colt Experience Victory in 1999.

Detour Hanover is by Andover Hall, out of the mare D Train. It was the second consecutive year that one of their foals was the sales topper for the first day of the sale; filly Dream On Hanover fetched $260,000 in 2010. She was purchased by trainer Staffan Lind for owner Karl-Erik Bender, and the same duo was the underbidder on Detour Hanover.

In addition to Detour Hanover, the Cancellieres also bought pacing colt Some Of The Beach, a full brother to 2008 Horse of the Year Somebeachsomewhere, for $430,000.

Trotting fillies posted the biggest gains from 2010. Fifty trotting fillies were sold for an average of $62,050, an increase of 27.6 percent from $48,612 last year. The colts averaged $57,408, up from $56,403, while trotters as a group averaged $59,426 this year, up from $53,248.

Pacers averaged $50,457 this year, compared to $51,118 last year. The average for pacing colts was $59,526, up from $53,592 in 2010 while the fillies went for an average of $36,020, a decrease from $47,431.

“The sale was pretty much as all sales have been this year,” said Murray Brown, the vice president and general manager of the Standardbred Horse Sale. “The good horses sold extremely well. If you had something that people wanted, and the horse had to have everything — it had to have the pedigree, it had to have the looks, it had to have the commercial appeal — they were willing to pay for it. And in some instances maybe overpay.”

Jimmy Takter had the winning bids on two of the big sales that did not go to the Cancellieres. Takter purchased trotting filly Upscale (Donato Hanover-Inspired Society) for $240,000 and To Dream On (Credit Winner-Satin Pillows) for $200,000.

Upscale is a full sister to 2011 Peter Haughton Memorial winner Weingartner and a half-sister to 2010 Breeders Crown winner Martiniontherocks. To Dream On is the first foal out of Satin Pillows, who is a half-sister to former Takter star Pampered Princess.

“We bought her for Canadian connections — Marvin Katz, Al Libfeld and Sam Goldband — and she was our favorite filly in the sale for conformation and everything; the whole package,” Takter said about To Dream On. “She looks a lot like Pampered Princess. She is quality. It’s a productive family and they are big breeders and they want to have that bloodline there.”

Also selling for $200,000 was trotting filly Fraction (Andover Hall-Decimal Hanover), with Robert Rosenheim registering the winning bid. She is Decimal Hanover’s first foal. Decimal Hanover’s mother is D Train.

The sale resumes at 10 a.m. Tuesday. The excitement generated Monday could carry through the rest of the sale.

“Absolutely,” Brown said. “The opposite can happen, too. You start dull and people say ‘Horses are selling cheap so I’ll re-gauge what I’m willing to spend.’ The opposite holds true, too. They may raise their sights a little.

“We just hope the sale is consistently good,” he added. “We have a very good offering tomorrow and a very good offering on Wednesday and Thursday. I think there are a lot of potentially real good horses selling.”