The rivalry between Atlanta and Manchego carried over to the sales ring in Monday's opening session of the 2021 Standardbred Horse Sale in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, with Atlanta's full sister In Italian (HIP 69) selling for $750,000 to Brad Grant and Manchego's full sister Swanky Hanover (HIP 118) going for $700,000 to Jeff Snyder. In Italian, consigned by Concord Stud Farm for breeder Order By Stable, will have familiar connections, as Grant and partner Howard Taylor also own Atlanta and Ron Burke trains her. "I know a little bit about Atlanta," joked Grant. "Everything said she was the best in the sale as far as we were concerned. I thought we might have to pay a little bit more, so I'm really pleased with the price. It stalled at $700,000, so I thought maybe we had a decent chance of getting her for at least under $800,000. I really thought she would probably be in the $800,000 range. "Howard Taylor is one of my partners. Him and I are in on it, and we'll hope for the best. We're going to talk to Michelle and Al Crawford. They obviously were part of Atlanta and see what happens there. We'd like to keep it going." When asked to compare the two daughters of Chapter Seven-Hemi Blue Chip, Grant remarked, "She's probably a little bigger than Atlanta was at that age. Ronnie checked her over I don't know how many times, and other people checked her over for me. Everybody came back with 'she's a little bit bigger than Atlanta, but has all the tools.' They're the experts. I'm just along for the ride." Burke was also very happy that he'll be handling the training and raved about what he's seen from In Italian thus far. "Atlanta is one of the nicest trotters I've ever seen. This thing's a nicer version of Atlanta. She is amazing," Burke said. "We saw her out in the paddock. Howard called me first and said 'we think we're going to go after her, would you be interested in training her?' and I said 'yes.' He said 'she's supposed to be special, could you see her?' I went and saw her and said to Howard, 'she's a freak.' He said 'I don't know if that's good or not because it's going to be a lot.' I go, 'it's gonna be a lot.' I knew they were going to go to at least that. I couldn't find Brad, but then I went around the corner and he had it, so I was happy. "It's something new. I've never trained one that expensive. To me, I treat them all the same, but it's cool. I love Atlanta, so hopefully we get it done." After a spirited bidding session, Snyder was able to get Swanky Hanover, a daughter of Muscle Hill-Secret Magic bred and consigned by Hanover Shoe Farms. Marcus Melander is expected to be her trainer. "We hope we get lucky. We're concentrating on trotters this year. We sold a few pacers, so we can fund it a little bit," Snyder remarked. "We have some real good residual value there. That's one reason why we went that high, that pedigree part there. The only thing I was a little concerned about is she was a June 11 foal, so we're going to have to take our time and wait on her. If all goes well, she'll be a broodmare somewhere down the line, and we can sell them here at the Harrisburg Sale like these crazy prices they're going for. "The other one went for $750,000, so I got a steal." Checking behind the two fillies was HIP 16 Craft Made, a Walner colt who was taken for $610,000. Consigned by Preferred Equine Marketing for Fair Winds Farm, Craft Made is out of Woodshopper (Muscles Yankee), making him a half-brother to Fashionwoodchopper (1:53, $490,858). "It was a nice horse. At that price, I think I'm not the only one that liked him," said trainer Luc Blais, who signed the slip for Serge Godin's Determination stable. "The market is there, and we need to follow the market. I saw him at the farm, and I saw him here again. I checked with my vet, and it was A-1 everywhere." Another horse joining the Melander barn will be HIP 58 Lord Bridgerton. Consigned and bred by Concord Stud Farm, he's by Muscle Hill and is the first foal out of the Cantab Hall mare Fine Tuned Lady (1:52 2/5, $643,987). Robert Lindstrom, acting as agent for a group of Swedish owners, grabbed him for $530,000. "He was a big horse, but he was born early. He has such nice conformation and he moves so easily," said Lindstrom. "I was looking at him at the farm before. We let him out and everything, and he was super. It's easy to say, but for the colts, he was one of the best today. "[He went for] a little bit more than we expected, but not much. We were talking about $400,000, $450,000 maybe. So we had to stretch a little bit." ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter Concord Stud Farm also sold the day's other $500,000 yearling, HIP 2 Defacement, to Andy Miller Stable, and led all consignors with an average of $197,120 for their 25 horses, leaving Julie Meirs completely thrilled with how the day went for the New Jersey nursery. "What a day. Yes, it exceeds our expectations. A consignment averaging around $200,000 with the number that we sold is awesome. That's huge," she stated. "We were the highest average in Lexington, and now we're still able to come here and do what we did. Considering we sold one for $750,000 down there and then sold one for $750,000, that's pretty cool. "We were thinking [In Italian] was going to be somewhere around there. We didn't know quite where she was going to be, but somewhere in the $750,000, maybe a little bit slightly higher. That was the sort of feedback that we've been getting from other people as well. They were shooting for [a million]. That would have been amazing to get there, but we got pretty close." When asked about the secret to the success at Concord, Meirs commented, "Hard work and living the horse life. It's a family operation, and our staff is key. They are so important, and a huge part of it. It's our life." In total, 136 yearlings sold on Monday at the Standardbred Horse Sale, bringing a gross of $17,730,000 and an average of $130,368. With fewer horses sold, the gross is down from two years ago ($19,172,000 / 168 horses), but the average was up from $114,119 on opening day in 2019. In 2020, when the pandemic caused the sale to move to Timonium, Maryland, the sum was $12,813,000 for 154 horses sold and the average was $83,201. "I knew we would have a good sale, but this was incredible. I want to thank everybody - the buyers, the consignors, the bidders - it was just amazing," said Dale Welk, who is overseeing the Standardbred Horse Sale as President for the first time. "It's a real high. It really makes me feel good and makes me feel solid. We follow Lexington pretty close. If they have a great sale, we usually have a good sale, but this was a great day. "Day two and day three, I think, are going to stay right with it." The sale resumes on Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. and HIPs 145-446 will be available to purchase. --quotes by Derick Giwner--