by Rich Fisher, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Rich Fisher

Trenton, NJ — There may not be a throw-in as successful as Scandalous Hanover since the Philadelphia Phillies tossed in Ryne Sandberg with Larry Bowa in a deal they made with the Chicago Cubs in 1983.

Sandberg was a little known minor leaguer at the time who went on to be voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Scandalous Hanover was pretty much a bargaining chip that has turned into a burgeoning gold mine for trainer Casie Coleman.

“Honestly we kind of call her ‘Throw-in’ half the time because she really was a throw-in,” said Coleman, who has Scandalous Hanover and two other filly pacers in Saturday’s eliminations for the Lady Maud Stakes at Yonkers Raceway. “We took her as a package deal.”

Last summer, an agent called Coleman about Ewald Hanover, a 2-year-old pacing gelding. He was asking $100,000 and Casie offered $80,000.

“He didn’t want to take it,” she said. “I know they sell horses, I looked up their other horses and saw Scandalous Hanover. They said they wanted to sell her so we got a package deal put together. She was literally just a throw-in to get the 2-year-old I wanted.”

Coleman got Ewald Hanover and Scandalous Hanover for a total of $122,000. The colt has already won nearly $100,000, while the “throw-in” filly has earned close to $230,000, with the bulk of it coming since joining Coleman’s stable in July.

“Mark Reynolds put the deal together and it’s just been awesome,” Coleman said. “She’s been a pleasant surprise. It’s not often those pleasant surprises happen like this. She’s been quite nice. I didn’t expect I was buying a stakes filly, that’s for sure.”

Fred Brown photo

Scandalous Hanover (#2) has won five of six starts since moving into the Casie Coleman barn.

Scandalous Hanover (Dragon Again-Subtle Charm) has won 10 of 21 races this year and five of six since Coleman purchased her. Her lone loss was a second-place finish to Shebestingin in a world-record 1:47 mile on Oct. 5 at The Red Mile in Lexington.

“When I got her she seemed like a sound, healthy filly,” the trainer said. “I put her in that first start, I liked her so much I put her in the one for the most money in the PA Sire Stakes. She won that in (1):49.3 and it was very impressive.

“It’s too bad she didn’t have the points to go to the (sire stakes) final. She went to the consolation and won that. The only time she was beat was when she was second in (1):47. I was really happy with her that day. She raced great.”

Her connections are supplementing Scandalous Hanover to the Lady Maud. If she fares well at Yonkers, Coleman may supplement her for the Matron Stakes at Dover Downs.

“If she doesn’t do as good as I expect, then I’ll turn her out soon and give her a break and get her ready for next year,” Coleman said. “I think she looks good for the Lady Maud. There’s obviously some real nice fillies she’s in there against, but she’s in the two hole in her elimination.

“I’ll be thrilled if we can make the final and draw another two hole next week. She’s coming in very good; she trained awesome. There’s no Shebestingin and no I Luv The Nitelife, who are obviously the best fillies in the division right now. I think she’s got a pretty good chance. I think she’ll be fine on the half, I don’t see her having an issue, and hopefully we’ll get a little bit of luck.”

Coleman is also impressed with the horse’s breeding, which she was unaware of until listening to an announcer talk about her family during a post parade. Her mother, Subtle Charm, is a half-sister to stakes-winners Glowing Report, Must See and Perfect Union. Must See is the dam of standout Well Said.

“I went home and looked up her breeding and I was like ‘Holy (cow)!’” Casie said. “She’s bred unbelievably good. She’s worth quite a bit of money as a broodmare I believe.”

The trainer said the horse is “a sweetheart” in the barn but a little quirky on the track during training. In a race, she has yet to develop that killer instinct, as she will get ahead of the field and then wait for everyone to catch up.

“She’s more green than anything,” Coleman said. “Once she gets more races under her she’ll be all right. She only wins by a little bit when she wins. She doesn’t know to take off from the competition when she can.”

USTA/Mark Hall photo

Casie Coleman has three starters in the Lady Maud eliminations on Saturday.

Coleman’s other horses in the Lady Maud elims are Social Scene and Parlee Beach.

“Social Scene is fast as heck,” the trainer said. “She’s probably faster than any of them; she’s extremely fast. She’s very good on the half.

“The thing with her, you can see from her lines, she either wins or she’s last. She chokes very easily, so she gets driven kind of tough. Her last start, I raced her in an overnight at (Harrah’s Philadelphia) and she choked. I’m probably going to end up doing throat surgery to her after this season for next year and hopefully we can fix that situation. Right now I just have her rigged the best way I can to prevent her from choking.”

Parlee Beach competed in the Jugette and Coleman said, “She’s been racing great. She’s coming into the race good. She’s a big mare so I’m hoping she can handle the half fine. We won’t know that until we race her there but she didn’t have any issues at the Jugette. She should be fine.”

Rounding out Coleman’s busy weekend is Lucan Hanover, who heads into his Messenger Stakes elimination Saturday after finishing third in the Breeders Crown.

“He’s coming into the race great,” Coleman said. “He raced really good in the Breeders Crown; he had the fastest last quarter on the whole night, which is pretty impressive, I think.

“He came home in :26.4 in the slop and was still charging just past the wire. He was going past everybody. He was extremely good.”