by Kimberly French, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Williamsport, PA — They have been close friends for many years and speak on the phone almost daily, but since the 3-year-old trotter Hartmann has entered their lives, the bond between Bud Hatfield and Brent Davis has developed a completely different dimension.

When Hatfield, a 59-year-old resident of Columbus, Ohio, saw Hartmann’s page in the 2007 Harrisburg Mixed Sale catalogue, he folded it over. A colleague had told Hatfield the Kentucky-bred son of Like A Prayer and Canne Angus might be worth taking a chance on if the price was right. When the gavel thumped down, Hatfield had purchased Hartmann for $7,000 and asked Davis, who attended the sale with him, to train his new acquisition.

Nigel Soult photo

Hartmann won his first seven races this year and has earned $126,600.

Hartmann’s first start was on June 25 at Scioto Downs in a $2,200 non-winners race. Davis took him to The Meadows and he annexed two $10,000 non-winners races in July. The next stop was the Red Mile, where the colt reeled off four consecutive victories, the final three in legs of the Kentucky Sire Stakes series.

Hartmann hit the wire first in the $300,000 Sire Stakes Final on August 31, but was placed second after breaking at the finish.

Under Davis’ care, the colt has collected $126,600 and possesses a career mark of 1:55.2.

“My father (Roy Mac Davis) and I have been training a small stable of mostly trotters for years,” explained Davis, who resides in Zanesville, Ohio, and is a partner in Scenic Hill Farm. “Hartmann is the only outside horse we have ever trained for somebody else but Bud is a close friend of the family and has been for years. We took him as a friendship thing, so that Bud and I could share something in common together. We speak daily about world situations and our personal lives, but now he can call me and ask about the colt or I can call him and tell him how the colt’s doing. It’s been great.”

As a yearling, Hartmann was purchased by Christina Takter, John Fielding and Zotobamo AB for $90,000 at the 2006 Lexington Selected Sale and turned over to trainer Jimmy Takter. As a freshman, Hartmann never went behind the gate in a pari-mutuel event. The dark brown, nearly black, colt with a white star competed in four qualifying races from August to early September of 2007 and could finish no better than third.

“He’s really a well put together, nice-looking colt that has progressed so much physically from two to three,” Davis said. “Jimmy Takter broke him and his barn did a remarkable job. You couldn’t ask for a better-mannered colt. I’ve never been around a horse that’s so green and is so professional. It’s nothing I’ve done for the colt. He is just blessed with natural ability and a great mind. Believe me anybody that can put a harness on a horse can train him.”

His conditioner was a bit surprised by Hartmann’s success.

“I trained him the week before we qualified him on a little tiny half-mile fair track in Zanesville,” the 45-year-old said. “It’s not fast by any means and he went in like 2:10 with a jog cart. If you can do that on that track you’re a little better than the average horse but you never think you are going to pick up a young horse for a minimal fee and then they turn out to be almost undefeated. You just don’t see that coming and would never think the colt was going to string eight fantastic races together and turn into a (1):55.2 3-year-old in such a short period of time. It’s been quite a ride and he’s done a lot of things I never realized he would.”

Hartmann’s next and final start of his sophomore season will be in the Old Oaken Bucket Trot at the Delaware County Fairgrounds on Jug Day. His connections are unsure what direction the colt’s future career will take once this race is in the books.

“We didn’t stake him real heavy, so he will start at Delaware and that is it for the year,” Davis said. “He might be sold because there is some interest in the colt from Europe. He’s very well-bred. He’s a half brother to Cameron Hall and his dam is a full sister to the dam of Andover Hall, Conway Hall and Angus Hall. If he’s not sold, we are leaning towards turning him out and letting him develop into a 4-year-old. Then we might try him on the national scene and if not, he should be a really, really top raceway horse.”