Breaking: Horse of the Year Beau Jangles to be sold in Harrisburg

The stallion prospect has the potential to be the most expensive standardbred ever sold at auction.

by Dave Briggs

Exactly a year to the day after Beau Jangles posted his greatest career victory in the Breeders Crown, the owners of the reigning U.S. and Canadian Horse of the Year are announcing the 3-year-old pacing colt, and prime stallion prospect, will be sold on Nov. 6 at the Standardbred Horse Sales Company Mixed Sale in Harrisburg, PA (see full press release on pg. 10). 

The deal will disperse the partnership between the Graham Grace Stables LLC of Clifton, VA and Kiwi Stables LLC of La Plata, MD on Beau and two other horses they share – Breeders Crown-winning mare Call Me Goo, who is in foal to Chapter Seven, and 2-year-old trotting colt Yankee Boss, who finished sixth on Friday (Oct. 23) in the $700,000 Breeders Crown at Eldorado Scioto Downs.

Beau Jangles’ majority owner Adam Ainspan of the Graham Grace Stables, told HRU on Friday that it, “was always the plan, at some point in time, that [Beau Jangles] would be sold. I don’t think any of us really wanted to be in the breeding game.

“The question was, would we race him next year with some degree of risk? I think, depending on how he does, it could affect his value. I never really wanted to be in the breeding game. I was happy to take a small share of him if somebody wanted to go ahead and take over… and still, I guess, could depending on who purchases him. But that being said, I didn’t really want to be in charge of it… So, based on that, it made sense to go ahead and sell at this point in time.”

HRU requested comment from Kiwi Stables’ principal Jonathan Roberts, but did not receive a response prior to press time.

Bob Boni, who will handle the sale through his Northwood Bloodstock, said “Beau” has the potential to surpass the record auction price of $1.85 million paid for 3-year-old trotting colt Amazing Catch at the Harrisburg Mixed Sale in 2024.

“[Beau Jangles is] in a strong position to be the highest-priced standardbred ever,” Boni said. “We’ve never sold a horse while he is still the reigning Horse of the Year at public auction.

“He’s the top breeding horse in the crop, to me, because… he had a year as a 2-year-old that nobody, in recent memory, has had. He dominated a very, very strong group of horses, and it was a level of brilliance that you look for when you breed… Steady doesn’t get it for me. I want horses that, at some point in their career, showed they could do something extraordinary, and that’s what he did.”

For Boni, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2025, this three-horse consignment will be his first return to selling horses since parting company with Alliance Bloodstock earlier this year.

“I like staying busy,” Boni said. “Putting the statements together, doing the release, making a presentation. I love that.”

Beau Jangles, a son of Cattlewash out of the Art Major mare Mrs Major Hill, was bred in Ontario by Tara Hills Stud, which also stands Cattlewash. He was sold for $65,000 out of the Preferred Equine consignment at the 2024 Standardbred Horse Sales Company yearling sale and renamed in honor of one of Ainspan’s dogs.

Beyond the Graham Grace and Kiwi Stables, Beau is also owned by the Bolton Stables of Clermont, FL, and, since Oct. 13, by driver James MacDonald of Guelph, ON.

Trained by Dr. Ian Moore, Beau Jangles was a perfect 12-for-12 as a rookie racing exclusively in Ontario and collecting Grade 1 wins against Grand Circuit company in both the $730,000 Metro Pace and $700,000 Breeders Crown, both held at Woodbine Mohawk Park. He set a stakes, track, and Canadian record of 1:48.3 while winning the Crown, and ended the year with earnings of $1,227,326.

His sophomore season hasn’t been as rosy, as HRU documented recently, but the colt still earned $411,285, recorded a 1:47.2 mark at The Red Mile and has a record of 6-1-3 in 15 starts. Lifetime, Beau Jangles is 18-1-3 in 27 starts and has earnings of $1,638,611.

Ainspan said the ride Beau Jangles took him and his partners on, “was spectacular” and allowed him to acquire a few talented thoroughbreds that have stakes potential next year at 3.

“[Beau’s] actually changed things for me,” Ainspan said. “I wouldn’t have the 2-year-olds about to become 3 on the thoroughbred side without Beau… He’s spurred on the whole operation to the level where it’s at. For me, and my wife, we get to stay at a fairly high level, but still cut back as we get older. I just feel really blessed to be in that position, and it’s been a lot of fun because of Beau.

“The thing that I’ll remember the most, honestly, is in the North America Cup when he turned for home on the lead. The roar from the crowd was something. I really felt like we’re at the Kentucky Derby. I really wish he could have won just to give the fans that thrill, and so. But, in horse racing, no matter what, you never get everything. I’m just so grateful for everything he’s given to us.”

Boni said Beau Jangles, “truly has every quality you want in a horse. He’s a great-looking horse. He’s a great-gaited horse. He’s hit levels of performance that few have hit, and he’s by a sire line that has shown that it continues to prevail.”

Beau’s sire, Cattlewash, was sired by Somebeachsomewhere, the stallion that has had the greatest impact on modern-day pacing bloodlines.

“It will be interesting to see how people address this [sale],” Boni said. “Do people get together? Do people not? This also doesn’t preclude somebody from saying ‘I want to race him.’ He’s fully capable of doing that, so it opens all those doors.”

As for Call Me Goo, who Graham Grace and Kiwi Stables share with William Roberts of Brandywine, MD and her former trainer Ake Svanstedt, Boni said, “you have a Breeders Crown winner in foal to Chapter Seven, and it’s her first foal. You don’t have to say much more than that.”