Owner Berthiaume has veteran and newcomer in Breeders Crown
November 17, 2014,by Perry Lefko, for the Breeders Crown
Cranbury, NJ — One is a 9-year-old war horse and the other is a 2-year-old barely into his racing career, but collectively Voelz Hanover and Traceur Hanover give Quebec businessman Richard Berthiaume hopes of winning his first Breeders Crown race.
Berthiaume, who has been in the horse business for 40 years, has been close a few times, placing second with Voelz Hanover in the 2010 Mare Pace and third in 2011 with Oh Sweet Baby in the 3-Year-Old Filly Trot and third in 2012 with Murmur Hanover in the 2-Year-Old Colt Trot.
This just might be his best chance to finally enter the winner’s circle.
Voelz Hanover, the 9-year-old, and Traceur Hanover, the 2-year-old, won races Saturday night at the Meadowlands in tune-ups for this week’s Breeders Crown finals.
Voelz Hanover won a free-for-all for older pacing mares, beating a field that included two-time Breeders Crown winner Anndrovette.
Traceur Hanover won his elimination race for 2-year-old colt and gelding pacers with a career best time of 1:50.3. Both horses are trained by Corey Johnson.
“Every year I buy a horse I’m staking for the Breeders Crown,” Berthiaume said. “This year I staked 12 horses to the Breeders Crown. It’s special for me to have two horses in the Breeders Crown. It’s one of my dreams as a horse owner to win a Breeders Crown race. We’ll see what happens this time. They’re going to have to work hard to beat me.”
Traceur Hanover’s next start will be the 13th of his career, and to put that in context, Voelz Hanover has raced 169 times in her career. If she were to win, she would match the great Foiled Again as the oldest Breeders Crown victor. Foiled Again won last year’s Breeders Crown for older male pacers.
Berthiaume owns and operates Urgence Marine Inc., which provides daily waste collection services for international ships arriving in the Port of Montreal. He began in the business in 1979. At one point in his life he dabbled in training and driving racehorses.
“I was really not good enough (to make a living out of it),” he said. “It wasn’t my game to train horses.”
John Sanucci photo
Voelz Hanover has won 45 times in her career, with earnings of $1.69 million.
The 68-year-old did some amateur driving at one point in his life and still occasionally jogs horses. He has 16 horses, 12 of which are racing, and credits the success of his stable to Johnson, who has only been training for four years, and brothers Richard and Claude Bardier, who oversee the operation. Johnson has had one previous Breeders Crown starter, Captive Audience, who placed ninth in a field of 10 in the 2012 2-Year-Old Colt Pace race.
Berthiaume bought Voelz Hanover for $27,000 as a yearling, and she’s banked more than $1.69 million. This year she’s won seven of 17 starts, including the Milton Stakes at Mohawk Racetrack at more than 33-1 odds. Since then she’s won three of four.
She missed all of her 4-year-old season with a leg injury, and at one point Berthiaume sent the daughter of Astreos to the breeding shed, but she couldn’t get in foal so it was decided to send her back to the racetrack.
“It’s special (to own a horse like her),” Berthiaume said. “She’ll show us when she’s had enough to race. She’s like a young filly. She really likes to race. It’s not difficult for the trainer to train her two or three turns around the track. She’s trained two miles a day maybe three times a week.”
Five years ago when trained by Ben Baillargeon, Voelz Hanover placed second at 54-1 odds to 13-10 favorite Dreamfair Eternal, who retired at the age of eight following seven seasons in which she accumulated more than $2.47 million in her career.
Traceur Hanover, a son of Western Ideal-Transference purchased as a yearling for $100,000, has had some tough luck in his brief career. In his second-last start, he finished fifth but was placed fourth after suffering interference. In the start before that, he broke stride early.
“I staked him to all the best stakes, but we didn’t start to race him until July because he’s a big, big horse,” Berthiaume said. “But I think he’s really in top shape. If he can repeat what he did (last time out) I think it will be difficult for the other horses to beat him.”