by James Platz

Kevin Greenfield’s Hickory Lane Horse Farm arrives in Lexington with a 15-yearling consignment that is balanced between trotters and pacers. The group includes seven trotters and eight pacers headlined by six from the hot sire Tactical Landing.

“I think it’s a very strong consignment,” Greenfield said. “We have six Tactical Landings, which is our feature. We have several nice pacers too. Two Tactical Landings in particular that I think are very good are Hip #290 [Courtney’s Promise], Courtney Hanover’s filly is very nice. Hip #224, Victorianas Secret, the filly out of Victoriana is very nice. We have several nice pacing fillies out of Sweet Lou, Bettor’s Wish, Papi Rob Hanover, McWicked, Cattlewash and Stay Hungry. We also have a nice colt out of first crop sire Bulldog Hanover.”

Victorianas Secret is the first yearling that will sell from the Findlay, OH breeder on Tuesday (Oct. 1). The brown filly is a Tactical Landing first foal from Donato Hanover mare Victoriana, a sister to millionaire Little Brown Fox and export Danatomite. The yearling is dual eligible to New Jersey and Kentucky.

Courtney’s Promise, also a dual-eligible Tactical Landing filly, is a full-sister to freshman winner Landing On Time. The colt finished second in a Kentucky Sires Stakes leg and raced fourth in the $400,000 final. He has banked $70,640 to date.

“Each year we’re trying to improve the quality and have better and better horses,” Greenfield said. “The nice thing this year is that we have yearlings that are out of mares that are producing on the racetrack.

“We have a very strong trotting and pacing consignment for the 15 we have, and we’re real excited to present them.”

On the pacing side, the Hickory Lane consignment offers two first foals. Loureka, Hip #312, is a Sweet Lou filly out of Keystone Eureka, a Somebeachsomewhere mare with a mark of 1:52 and earnings exceeding $180,000. Her third dam, Hula Dancer, produced double millionaire Maltese Artist. Cattlewash-sired Like A Ferrari, Hip #663, is the first living foal from a McArdle mare that is a sister to six-figure earners Rose Run Uptowngal and Rose Run Victoria.

Looking So Good, cataloged as Hip #572, is a Papi Rob Hanover second foal that is a sister to freshman New Kid On Therock, timed in 1:59.3. Stay Hungry filly Stay Thrilling is from a McArdle mare that has already produced Buckeye Stallion Series leg runner-up Thrill By The Sea. She sells on day four, cataloged as Hip #656

Hip #743, Bettor After Dark, is a Bettor’s Wish filly out of Sweet Lou mare Ever After, a 100-per cent producing mare with a six-figure earner to her credit. The dual-eligible filly sells Thursday (Oct. 3). The Dog Warden, Hip #516, will enter the sale ring Wednesday (Oct. 2). The Bulldog Hanover colt is the second foal from Delightful Space, a Bettor’s Delight mare that has produced Indiana fair circuit runner-up Delightful Era, timed in 1:58.4.

Hickory Lane’s last offering for the week is Front And Center, Hip #801 in the book. The McWicked filly is out of the 100-per cent producer Lionness Hanover. The Ontario-eligible yearling is a sister to $787,000 winner Queen Of The Pride and Roaring To Go, winner of over $400,000.

Greenfield explained that with the addition of Little Brown Jug champion Lou’s Pearlman as a pacing stallion at Hickory Lane, future consignments will offer more for buyers who favor that gait.

“We’re strong on the trotting end,” he said. “Now with Lou’s Pearlman at the farm, you’ll see more and more in the future on the pacing end. I personally have more trotters. With the pacing stallion, we’re getting quality pacing mares. The ones we’re selling this year are nice individuals with good pedigrees.”

Last year, Hickory Lane’s 15-horse consignment grossed $782,000, good for an average of $52,133.