Adios Butler

The horse Adios Butler (1956 - 1983) was a North American harness racing champion.

Sired by the great standardbred Adios with an obscure broodmare named Debby Hanover, Adios Butler was trained and driven by Clint Hodgins. In 1959, Adios Butler won the Cane Pace, then the Little Brown Jug where he was the first horse to win with a sub-two-minute mile and finally the Messenger Stakes, doing it in track and stake record time to become the first pacer to ever capture the Triple Crown of Harness Racing for Pacers.

The following year he lost only one race on a muddy track but later would go on to record a 1:54.3 mile, the then fastest time in harness racing history. Adios Butler was named "Horse of the Year" in 1960 and 1961 by the U.S. Trotting Association and the U.S. Harness Writers Association. After his racing career he would be retired to stud.

Bret Hanover

Bret Hanover (May 19, 1962 - November 21, 1992), possibly the greatest ever pacing Standardbred, was born at Hanover Shoe Farms in Pennsylvania.

The son of the great sire, Adios out of the mare Brenna Hanover, Bret Hanover was born on May 19, 1962. He would become one of only nine horses in history to win harness racing's honour by capturing the Triple Crown of Harness Racing for Pacers.

Trained and driven by Frank Ervin in his 1964 debut season in racing, two-year-old Bret Hanover was undefeated, winning all 24 races he entered and would continue undefeated for 35 races. In his second season of racing, he was 21-for-24 and in his last year of racing at age four, he was 17-for-20 for a career total of 62 wins in 68 races. He never placed worse than third.

He was voted Horse of the Year for all three years by the US Trotting Association and the US Harness Writers Association, the only pacer ever to accomplish that. Bret Hanover was only ever beaten by two horses, one of them the great Cardigan Bay, the first standardbred horse ever to win $1 million dollars.

Bret Hanover was retired as the fastest and richest standardbred. He went to stud at Castleton Farm in Lexington, Kentucky where he immediately became one of the most in-demand breeding stallions in harness racing history. Among his many successful offspring were Little Brown Jug winners Melvin's Woe and Strike Out. He is remembered as one of the best broodmare sires of the century.

After his death on November 21, 1992 Bret Hanover was buried at Lexington's Kentucky Horse Park, and the statue that had been erected for him at Castleton Farm today stands at his grave site.

Numerous stories have been written about the horse including the book "Big Bum, The Story of Bret Hanover".

Abercrombie

Abercrombie (1975 - 2000) was a bay harness racing horse by Silent Majority out of Bergdorf by Duane Hanover. He won the E. Roland Harriman Award for harness horse of the year in 1978. He won 22 of his 33 races in 1978, including the Messenger Stakes, the Prix d'Été, and the Adios Stakes.

His best time for the mile was 1:53, achieved when he was four years old. He was trained and driven by Glen Garnsey.

He retired to become a major sire at Castleton Farm in Lexington, Kentucky, helping to return the Adios line to prominence. Among his progeny are Artsplace (Harness Horse of the Year in 1992), Life Sign, Armbro Emerson, Anniecrombie, and Armbro Dallas.

Abercrombie died in 2000 and was buried at the Castleton Farm horse cemetery.

Adios

Adios (January 3, 1940–1965) was a champion harness racing sire.

The son of Hal Dale and the mare Adioo Volo, the horse named Adios was born on January 3, 1940 at Two Gaits Farm, in Carmel, Indiana. Trained and driven by Frank Ervin and for a while owned by Harry Warner of Warner Brothers film studio, Adios was a multiple world champion during his racing career, his pacing record at the Shelbyville, Indiana fair stood for 43 years. Despite his racing success, it is his offspring that he is most famous for.

In 1948, Adios was bought by harness racing driver Delvin Miller to stand in stud at his Meadow Lands farm near Washington, Pennsylvania. The horse proved to be a tremendous stud, considered by many to be the greatest in harness racing history.

He sired eight Little Brown Jug winners, more than any other horse, and his sons, Adios Butler and Bret Hanover both became winners of the Triple Crown of Harness Racing for Pacers.

Before he died in 1965, Adios had sired 589 offspring. His name is synonymous with horse racing and can be found on consumer products and harness horse equipment. At his passing, the horse was buried at Meadow Lands farm under his favorite apple tree near the paddock that had been his home for seventeen years.

A race was named for him, held each year on the second Saturday in August at The Meadows racetrack in Meadow Lands, Pennsylvania. Since the first Adios Pace in 1967, it has evolved into one of the important events in the harness racing season.

Albatross

Albatross (1968 - 1998) was a bay horse by Meadow Skipper out of Voodoo Hanover by Dancer Hanover. He was voted harness horse of the year in 1971 and 1972.

Trained and driven by Stanley Dancer, he won 25 of his 28 races as a three-year-old, including the Adios Stakes, the Cane Pace, and the Messenger Stakes. As a three-year-old he also set a record for fastest race mile with two races in 1:54.4 at the Red Mile in Lexington, Kentucky. He broke this record as a four-year-old with a race in 1:54.3 at Sportsman's Park in Chicago.

After his four-year-old season he retired to stud at Hanover Shoe Farms in Hanover, Pennsylvania. He is the sire of Niatross (winner of the Triple Crown of Harness Racing for Pacers in 1980 and also a world champion with a mark of 1:49.1), and of Fan Hanover, Merger, Colt Fortysix, and Jaguar Spur, all, like Niatross, winners of the Little Brown Jug. He was also an outstanding broodmare sire.

Albatross died in 1998 and was buried at the Hanover Shoe Farms horse cemetery.