Harness: Captaintreacherous-sired 'Philly' with a big future

In the fall of 2017 Ron Coyne Jr. happened to be at the Harrisburg Yearling Sale and was interested in something from the first crop of Captaintreacherous. “We were prepared to go a bit higher,” said Coyne of the price point for a filly named Philly Hanover, coincidently. “I actually left the sale on Wednesday and my partner Blair Corbeil got her the next day.”

That Philly Hanover went for just $22,000 seems a major surprise to this day as the now 3-year-old filly embarks on a potential meeting with division leaders in the James Lynch Memorial trials at The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono this Saturday.

“There was nothing wrong with her that we could tell,” said Coyne. “Yeah, I looked at her when she came into the barn and she was fine.”

There was no buyer’s remorse at that point but soon after Coyne and Philly Hanover were not on the same page and for some time the price may have been an overpayment. “She wasn’t easy to break,” said Coyne. “We tried earplugs, tongue ties but whatever we tried didn’t work.”

Philly Hanover was not moving along as expected and with her struggles the owners had to face the same concerns of all yearling buyers, and that would be whether to stake or not. “She really wasn’t advancing when payments were due so we left her out of a lot of stakes races,” Coyne said. “Then when we got around to April and May she started showing improvement and catching up with the rest.”

It was too late to make payments missed but there was still much to race for in the rich Pennsylvania Sire Stakes program without much shipping. At the same time, Philly Hanover would have to go against some more expensive rivals in the state that would produce all of the top fillies of this generation.

The record shows that Philly Hanover won just once during her freshman campaign, but she had a second-place finish that kind of made up for the entire season. Sent off at nearly 40-1 from the pole position in the $253,000 Pennsylvania Championship, Philly Hanover rallied well to finish second beaten just a neck. At the wire she was ahead of current standouts Warrawee Ubeaut and Treacherous Reign.

The highlight was significant but Coyne reflected on the trials and tribulations of a juvenile season that could have turned out even better. “She just couldn’t focus when she was in a race,” said Coyne. “There was a lot of little things that she would let bother her. She had a funny mouth and tended to overreact.”

Considering the pedigree and the quality efforts as a juvenile, Coyne hoped that his purchase would begin paying off more dividends as a sophomore. “She’s got an incredible maternal family,” Coyne said, pointing out that four of the first foals from her dam Paris Hanover were in fact winners in excess of $100K. Also her second dam Panned Out was not only a winner of $350K herself but produced six winners in excess of $200K including the 2012 New Jersey Classic 1:47 2/5 winner Panther Hanover.

“I don’t think there was a light bulb moment,” said Coyne, reflecting upon the change between her 2 and 3-year-old season that has seen Philly Hanover winning four of her first five starts this year and earning a spot in the top echelon of an exceptional sophomore pacing filly crop. “She just sort of figured it out and has been much easier to handle.”

Philly Hanover has gotten better with each start and her most recent effort, a 1:49 2/5 victory in a $55,758 Pennsylvania Sire Stakes division at The Meadows, made a statement that should capture everyone’s attention. “That track is generally not known for fast miles,” said Coyne. “In fact the two other divisions contested that day were captured in 1:50 4/5.”

That said, much of the depth of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes class was competing at Woodbine Mohawk Park in the Fan Hanover eliminations on June 8, including the eventual one-two finishers in the final, Treacherous Reign and Warrawee Ubeaut. Coyne is hoping that the two weeks in Ontario for that pair may take just a little of the sting out of them as they return for eliminations this week at Pocono.

“I hope it works out that we’re well rested for the Lynch and maybe the others had something taken out of them in the Fan Hanover,” Coyne said.

To his benefit this week, Philly Hanover needs only beat three fillies in her $20,000 elimination race this Saturday at Pocono. Dexter Dunn has the driving assignment from post two.

At the same time, three of the top four finishers in the 1:48 3/5 Fan Hanover final will meet in the final elimination division, a seven-horse contest that could prove contentious. Warrawee Ubeaut (post 1), Treacherous Reign (post 3) and Stonebridge Soul (post 5) will need to be sharp again since this field also includes Pennsylvania Sire Stakes 2-year-old champion Sylph Hanover (post 2) and the improving Annie Hill (post 7).

While Dunn is listed to drive Philly Hanover this Saturday, the trainer is most aware that this year’s driving sensation is likely to commit to Treacherous Reign should that filly advance to the Lynch final on June 29. “If that happens I will probably have to put in a call to Brian Sears to see if he would drive her,” Coyne said in anticipation. “He drove her in last year’s Pennsylvania Sire Stakes final and did a great job.”

For Coyne and the connections behind Philly Hanover, the next few weeks may determine just how high this daughter of Captaintreacherous is capable of reaching in a very rich class of fillies. “We’ve got everything in Pennsylvania and she’s eligible to the Breeders Crown, Mistletoe Shalee and Matron Stakes,” said Coyne.

It’s not easy to find an inexpensive yearling that makes it this far and even Coyne recognizes some of his luck. “The first year of Captaintreacherous there were some we could buy,” said Coyne. “Last year it was just impossible.” Success has a way of changing the marketplace. Fortunately for Coyne and crew they found their “Philly” at the perfect time.