from Harness Racing Communications, a division of the USTA

Freehold, NJ — Hambletonian champion Donato Hanover will race in Saturday’s $600,000 World Trotting Derby at the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds in Illinois as he looks to continue constructing one of the most memorable careers for a trotter in recent times.

Named after Renaissance architect Donato Bramante, whose work included the redevelopment of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome in the early part of the 16th century, Donato Hanover has won 13 consecutive races since being beaten in his debut in June 2006. Donato Hanover is five-for-five this year, with victories in the $400,000 Stanley Dancer Memorial and $85,000 Dickerson to go with his triumph in the $1.5 million Hambletonian on August 4 at the Meadowlands Racetrack.

Donato Hanover, who shipped from his base in central New Jersey to Lexington’s Red Mile in preparation for the trip to Du Quoin, is attempting to become the seventh Hambletonian champ to also win the World Trotting Derby, but only the second since Continentalvictory in 1996. Other Hambletonian-World Trotting Derby winners were Vivid Photo (2005), Alf Palema (1992), Harmonious (1990), Armbro Goal (1988), and Prakas (1985). The first World Trotting Derby was held in 1981.

USTA/Ken Weingartner photo

Donato Hanover will seek his 14th straight win in the $600,000 World Trotting Derby.

“He’s doing good, real good,” said Steve Elliott, Donato Hanover’s trainer. “He seemed to ship well. He was bouncing around his stall (Wednesday). So far, so good. We’re just going to grind on.”

Grinding on successfully could put Donato Hanover in elite company. The only Hambletonian winner since Titan Hanover in 1945 to go undefeated for his entire 3-year-old season was Scarlet Knight, who won 12 times, in 2001. On August 23, Donato Hanover popped a 1:51.3 mile in a qualifier at the Red Mile to tune up for the World Trotting Derby.

“He was great,” driver Ron Pierce said. “If the conditions are right in Du Quoin, he could be the first trotter to break 1:50.”

Tom Ridge set the trotting world record of 1:50.2 at the 2004 World Trotting Derby. Pierce was his driver.

Meanwhile, Elliott and his crew have had little time to enjoy their Hambletonian victory — not with the likes of filly pacing sensation Southwind Tempo and older pacer Artistic Fella leading the stable on journeys across North America.

“We didn’t have time to stop and do anything,” Elliott said. “It’s just been a steady go; that’s what we do. But I hope every trainer gets to experience a day like (the Hambletonian) one time in their life. It was pretty good for me.”

Donato Who?

Many harness racing fans might be unfamiliar with the work of Italian architect Donato Bramante, who turns out to be the “Donato” in Donato Hanover.

Donato Bramante is the namesake for Donato Hanover.

“At the time Donato was named, I was reading a book about Italian artists and architects at the time of Michaelangelo,” said Russell Williams, the vice president of Hanover Shoe Farms, who is responsible for naming foals. “The book was full of good Italian names, and I like to give Italian names to trotters because Italy is one of the world’s trotting capitals. Donato Bramante was one of the architects of the dome of St. Peter’s, a very appropriate subject for horse racing because it took its successful form only after several infeasible architectural dreams, including Bramante’s, had been tested.

“Naming foals is an interesting challenge, quite apart from the availability of possible names,” added Williams, who names more than 300 horses each year. “This is because you want promising foals to grow up with names that evoke that promise, and there is no way to know whether their promise will ever be fulfilled. Even with regard to Donato Hanover on Hambletonian Day, the pundits were saying that he had never been fully tested; only the race would tell how he might stack up against a powerful field.”

Like Bramante’s dome on St. Peter’s, he passed the test.