romeo hanover
Romeo Hanover, pacing's third Triple Crown winner, closed an outstanding racing career with a lifetime record of 44 races, 36 wins, 2 seconds, 4 thirds and $658,505 in earnings. Bred by Hanover Shoe Farms, he was a 1963 chestnut foal from the first crop of Dancer Hanover and out of the Tar Heel mare Romola Hanover. He was purchased as a yearling for $8,500 by five poker players and their wives, who raced under the Lucky Star Stables banner. Prominent New York breeder Morton Finder purchased a 25% interest in the colt in the spring of his two-year-old season. Trained by Jerry Silverman, he was driven by William Myer, George Sholty, Stanley Dancer and Delvin Miller during his racing career.
At two, Romeo Hanover won 13 of 16 starts, highlighted by his 1:59 victory in the Fox Stake. He also won a division of the Arden Downs Stake and the Lawrence B. Sheppard final. He was voted Two-Year-Old Pacer of 1965.
Romeo Hanover won two legs of the Pacing Triple Crown on what had been called "off" tracks, winning the Cane Futurity with William Myer in the sulky in 1:59.4 at Yonkers and taking the Little Brown Jug with George Sholty driving him to straight-heat victories in 2:01.2 and 1:59.3 at the Delaware, Ohio track, which had been soaked with three days of rain. He completed the Triple Crown by winning the Messenger at Roosevelt Raceway - his 18th straight victory in 1966 - in 2:01 with George Sholty driving. Other wins at three included the Hanover Colt Stakes, The Horseman Futurity, The W. N. Reynolds Memorial and the Hanover-Hempt Farm Stake. Romeo Hanover took his record of 1:56.1f in the American-National Pace at Sportsman's Park, setting a world's record for a 5/8-mile track and the fastest mile ever paced in Illinois at that time. Voted Three-Year-Old Pacer of 1966, Romeo Hanover lost only one race in 19 starts during his sophomore year.
Romeo Hanover returned to racing as a four-year-old and stretched his winning streak to 21 by winning, with George Sholty driving, in the Realization, the Dan Patch Invitational Pace, and the one-mile International Pace, in which Cardigan Bay finished second. He completed his final season with Stanley Dancer and then Delvin Miller in the bike and with five winning efforts in nine starts for the year. He was voted Four-Year-Old Pacing Champion of 1967.
Romeo Hanover was retired to stud at Pine Hollow Stud Farm Inc. in New York, where he was bred to a limited book of mares. He sired winners of over $14 million that include good pacers such as Taurus Romeo 1:55.2 ($671,095) and Secret Service 4,T1:53.2 ($454,179). As a broodmare sire, he sired the dams of winners of over $18 million with 50 $100,000 winners. Romeo Hanover was exported to New Zealand where he died in December, 1988.