romalie hanover
Bred, raised and sold by Hanover Shoe Farms, world champion pacer Romalie Hanover first came to the spotlight before she ever raced. A full sister to 1966 Triple Crown winner Romeo Hanover, she sold for $101,000 – then the highest price ever paid for any yearling pacing filly – to Dr. George C. Smith of Greenwich, Connecticut at the 1970 Standardbred Horse Sale in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The dominant filly of her generation, Romalie Hanover was trained and driven by Art Hult and Roland Beaulieu in her three years of racing when she recorded multiple world record-setting performances. She received the most votes for a filly in voting for Two-Year-Old and Three-Year-Old Pacer of the Year in 1971 and 1972.
At the end of her 1971 freshman season, driven by Art Hult, Romalie Hanover had won 20 of her 26 starts. Major victories included the Pocahontas, Walnut Hall Filly Stake (setting a world record 2:01 for two-year-old pacing fillies on a half-mile track), International Stallion Stake, Hanover Filly Stake (in a world record 2:00.1f for two-year-old pacing fillies on a five-eighths mile track) and the La Paloma. With $125,670 in earnings, Romalie Hanover was the leading moneywinning two-year-old pacing filly of 1971.
Driven by Roland Beaulieu as a sophomore, Romalie Hanover won 22 of 29 starts and paced in 2:00 or faster 14 times, then a record for a pacing mare of any age. In July at Blue Bonnets Raceway in Quebec she set her mark, a world record 1:57.3 for three-year-old pacing fillies on a five-eighths mile track. Other major wins included the Adioo Volo, the second-ever Jugette at Delaware, Ohio in world-record time for a three heats-divided race, the Hanover Filly Stake and the Lady Maud. Romalie Hanover was the leading moneywinning three-year-old pacing filly of 1972 with earnings of $187,883.
As a four-year-old in 1973, Romalie Hanover finished on the board in 17 of 24 races, with earnings of $80,832. With $394,385 in the bank, she retired as the all-time leading moneywinning pacing mare.