First crop sires Captaintreacherous, Sweet Lou and Trixton will be looking to build on the success they had in Lexington when the 2017 Standardbred Horse Sale begins on Monday, November 6 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Captaintreacherous stands locally at Hanover Shoe Farms, and Hanover Farm Manager Dr. Bridgette Jablonsky had praise for the group as a whole that they will have on offer. "Seeing ours I will tell you they are a great group," she said.  "I'm really looking forward to selling them at Harrisburg.  I think they will be well-received.  "One thing about the Captains is they seem to be really nice horses, like they're not bullies and they're not all over you.  They don't act like they're going to be stubborn or hard-headed.  They seem to want to work with people." Among the ‘Captains’ that Hanover will offer are HIP 60 Flameproof Hanover, a three-quarter brother to Little Brown Jug champion Filibuster Hanover (Somebeachsomewhere) and HIP 75 Izzy Hanover, a three-quarter sister to Closing Statement (Somebeachsomewhere), who was third in the Breeders Crown 2-Year-Old Colt Pace final. "He's a great-looking, correct, willing, and good-gaited colt," Jablonsky said about Flameproof Hanover.  "He's a little short, but everything else is there.  Filibuster was a little bit taller than him, but he reminds me a lot of Filibuster, and he just acts like a good horse.  He doesn't do anything wrong and is good in the paddock.  I really like him, and I would highly recommend him to someone that's looking for a pacing colt.  The mare is two-for-two with good, good horses and he's just every bit as nice as them." "That is the nicest pacing filly we have had in quite some time," Jablonsky added regarding Izzy Hanover.  "I know consignors say that, but I really mean it.  She is a specimen.  She is a big, powerful, and dead-correct filly, and even though she is so big and strong, she still manages to look like a filly.  She's probably the best pacing filly we have raised in recent memory." Jablonsky also mentioned for anybody coming to the sale to check out HIP 79 Intent Hanover and HIP 145 Samudio Hanover.  Both colts, they are the first foals out of American Ideal full sisters and New York Sire Stakes champions It Was Fascination (Intent Hanover) and Social Scene (Samudio Hanover). As for Sweet Lou, who out-averaged Captaintreacherous by a few thousand dollars in Lexington, his offspring drew high marks from David Meirs of Concord Stud Farm. “The Sweet Lous are very, very correct horses, and they look more like Thoroughbreds than they do Standardbreds,” Meirs said. Concord Stud Farm has the most Sweet Lous of any consignor in the sale, including HIP 34 Sugar Factory, a colt out of millionaire Cam Swifty and a half-brother to multiple stakes winner Naughtytiltheend (Western Ideal), and HIP 55 Sweet Beholder, a filly who is the second foal out of multiple New York Sire Stakes winner Double Major (Art Major). “He’s a great big strong colt,” Meirs noted about Sugar Factory.  “He’s just always been a good do-er.  He’s the biggest foal that I’ve ever seen out of Cam Swifty.  She’s not a big mare and not a correct mare, but this colt is correct.” “She’s a very, very pretty filly and has a presence about her with her ears always up and always forward,” he continued about Sweet Beholder.  “She’s a very open-going filly and a very nice filly.” Hanover also has a handful of Sweet Lous in their consignment and Dr. Jablonsky gave high marks to HIP 13 Acton Hanover, a colt out of Anadarko Hanover (The Panderosa) and a half-brother to six-figure earner Avalanche Hanover. “He’s a fantastic-looking colt,” she remarked.  “He has perfect conformation and is a good-looking colt with good size.  You would be hard-pressed, I think, to find a pacing colt nicer than him.  He has a great disposition and I think he’s going to be well-sold.” Winbak Farm also has a Sweet Lou going through the ring on day two in HIP 242 Sweet Sue.  This filly is out of the Cam’s Card Shark mare Acey Deucey, a full sister to Aba Daba Doo ($541,037) and the fast 2-year-old Duneside Perch ($160,325). “She’s a real nice filly.  Nice and correct, leggy and long, with nice size and light on her feet,” stated Winbak Yearling Manager Jim Ladwig.  “I like what I see of the Sweet Lous.  They’re real good-looking.” On the trotting side, only eight Father Patricks are available during the yearling portion of the sale, which should give Trixton a chance to do well as he has 20 yearlings on offer.  “Trixton is a beautiful horse, so I would expect him to have pretty-decent looking foals,” said Bob Boni from Northwood Bloodstock Agency, who will sell five Trixton yearlings through the sale. Among Northwood’s Trixton offerings is HIP 99 Cheap Tricks, the first foal out of $277,884 earner and stakes winner Maud Blue Chip (Credit Winner). “He’s very, very flashy.  He’s a good-sized colt and tall,” Boni noted.  “He’s got a lot of depth and a real, real good and strong shoulder to him.  He’s an impressive horse on the floor.  If you bring him out somebody is going to want to know who he is.   If you like him on the floor, you’ll like that much more looking at his video.  He’s a very good-moving colt.” Hanover has a Trixton-Star Hanover colt Steuben Hanover (HIP 150) as part of their group to sell.  He is a half-brother to Strawberry Hanover, who is actually the fastest 2-year-old this year by virtue of a 1:52 2/5 qualifying mark at The Red Mile. “That’s the nicest trotting colt we have,” said Dr. Jablonsky.  “The mare always has beautiful foals and he is no exception.  He is a big, strong, correct and good-moving colt.  He shows a ton of trot when we turn him out in the paddock.  You know that it’s a speed family, Marion Marauder’s family.” One issue the Trixtons face is New Jersey eligibility, although some, like the couple offered by Steve Stewart’s Hunterton Sales Agency, have Kentucky dual-eligibility due to mare residency.  Still, as Mark Mullen from Fair Winds Farm said, it is definitely something to watch. “It’s certainly a concern,” Mullen said.  “We’re doing everything we can to stabilize the program, but it’s not great.  I’m sure it’s going to have an impact on the sales.  Anything that doesn’t look the part or has a weaker page, somebody will say maybe it’s not worth the money and not be inclined to pay so much I suppose.” With that said, on the whole the consignors were very pleased with how the first-crop sires have been received so far, are looking forward to Harrisburg, and then seeing them on the track. “There won’t be any excuses with them,” said Stewart, who sold the highest-priced Sweet Lou and Trixton babies in Lexington.  “Each one of them was bred to enough mares and enough good mares that everybody’s going to have their turn in the barrel.”