Snyder takes another dip with Black Book sales opening topper

by Ray Cotolo

Jeffrey Snyder has been no stranger to deep pulls from the wallet over the last few years, and to great success. The man of Super Chapter fame, of Apex fame, of Spencer Hanover fame (to name a few) will hope to keep the good times rolling with the top seller from the first Black Book sale session in Harrisburg, PA, on Monday (Nov. 2).

Snyder, tucked against a curtain leading to the Main Hall alongside his right-hand trainer Marcus Melander, struck top dollar on Hip #43, a filly consigned by Hanover Shoe Farms named Coffeeshop Hanover, with a winning bid of $800,000. The daughter of Chapter Seven is out of stakes-winning mare Crucial, making her a full sister to Melander graduate and Dan Patch 2-Year-Old Trotting Male of 2024 Maryland.

“First of all, what’s there not to like, right?” Snyder said. “I bought the horse with Arthur Pronti, my partner with Super Chapter. I really feel that she’s the best-bred filly in both sales, if you take a look at the first dam and the second dam was Jolene Jolene. I happened to buy a colt in Lexington by Jolene Jolene, as well. [She’s a] great-looking filly. We’re not risking the whole amount, because when it comes time to be a broodmare, she’s got value. That’s it.”

Among the aforementioned dynamos of Snyder’s recent yearling homeruns, Super Chapter — a $300,000 purchase — banked nearly $3 million in his career and will be standing stud at Hanover Shoe Farms in Pennsylvania. Apex, a $525,000 purchase that Snyder co-owned, gave the New York owner his first Hambletonian while accruing nearly $2 million on the racetrack. And Spencer Hanover, a $450,000 acquisition, became a millionaire earlier this year while having scored marquee wins including in the Breeders Crown as a 2-year-old and in the inaugural Oak Grove Trotting Derby as a 3-year-old.

“We’ve been very fortunate,” Snyder said. “Arthur and I have had a lot of luck together. With a filly like this, you’re not gambling the entire amount. I’m glad to support Hanover Shoe Farms because they are standing Super Chapter and Apex, so Hanover is close to our hearts.”

Andrew Harris once again emerged as a prominent buyer during the opening session. While second among total purchases among all buyers on the day, Harris also snatched the second highest price of the day in Hip #60, a colt named Loudemetry consigned by Concord Stud Farm. The son of Sweet Lou is a full brother to Dan Patch 2-Year-Old Pacing Filly of 2023 Geocentric, who herself is a foal of champion pacing mare See You At Peelers.

“Gorgeous animal,” Harris said. “I thought he was the best pacer in the sale and then you mix it with the filly they hit with, Geocentric, she was a Sweet Lou. Then they bring her back to Sweet Lou and this is the first colt out of the family, so there’s a lot to like there. He looks the part, so let’s hope we have the right halter and the price doesn’t matter later.”

Harris, walking away with just six from Lexington for partners Bill Pollock and Bruce Areman’s Punisher 11 Stable, took seven home from opening day at Harrisburg. The team is also replenishing their inventory after a sensational campaign with near double millionaire Brandon Blvd, who scored a dominant win in the Grade 1 Breeders Crown 3-year-old colt pace in late October and will be the first commercial stallion for the group once he ships to stand at Hanover Shoe Farms in 2027.

“Lexington went very strong so I was being a little soft and Bill didn’t let me be soft today,” Harris said. “I tried to get him to stop on this one and he’s like, ‘No, we came here to buy horses, Andrew, let’s keep going.’ This is all on Bill, because I tried to stop and he kept going. After I made him go soft at Lexington, he didn’t let me go soft here.”

Serge Godin’s Determination registered a pair of session leaders while being the overall session leader among buyers. Luc Blais, from the bleachers of the sales arena, won the auction on Hip #96 and Hip #91, the fifth and seventh most expensive purchases of the day respectively. Hip #96, the colt Mr Sean Hanover consigned by Hanover Shoe Farms, sold for $675,000. The son of Captain Corey is the second foal from the Muscle Hill mare M Diddy, who is out of world champion mare Maven.

“The individual, he’d catch your eye,” Blais said of the colt. “I don’t know what to say, he caught my eye all the times I saw him. I liked them [the Captain Coreys]. They are a very laid-back horse and smart horse. That’s a good sire. I like the way they are not nervous. They are very professional, those horses. I’m very happy.”

Blais also signed for Determination on Hip #91, a Chapter Seven filly consigned by Concord Stud Farm named Finest Chapter. The filly, out of Cantab Hall mare Fine Tuned Lady, is a half-sister to $1.5-million earner Oh Well.

“We’ve bought a few in that family, like Lookslikeachpndale, Jake, What Chapter,” Blais said. “I used to train those horses and they were nice horses. That’s not the only reason we bought her. I thought she looked the part – sporty and good family. My owner likes her too. He likes the page and we get her.”

The third and fourth highest prices of the day came with thanks to Kjell Anderson of Switzerland, who acquired Hip #73 and also Hip #179 with Lucas Wallin signing as agent. Hip 73, a Walner filly consigned by Anvil And Lace Farm named Book A Spa Day, is a full-sister to triple millionaire Jiggy Jog S and brought $685,000 through the ring, the fourth highest of the day.

“She’s out of such a great family,” Anderson said. “I’m also trying to get a little bit of a broodmare band myself and, of course, regardless of how she does, she’s going to have residual value down the road. Being a full sister to Jiggy Jog, what else can you ask for, right? I thought I had her at $500,000, but we had to go a little bit more than that, but it’s okay. Somebody was bidding $10,000 in between so I thought, ‘You know what, I’ll bid $10,000 on the last one and see what happens’ and we got her.”

Anderson and Wallin then registered the third most expensive ticket late in the session with Hip #179, a Muscle Hill filly consigned by Concord Stud Farm named Glory Road, at the cost of $700,000. Out of the French-bred Ready Cash mare Goldy Mary FR, Glory Road is a half-sister to Custom, who sparred with the best of the sophomore trotting fillies across the Grand Circuit this season.

“It was one of the nicest fillies in the sale,” Wallin said. “The pedigree and the individual, we loved everything about her. I’m very fortunate to have an owner like Kjell Anderson. They invest so much money every year. Last year he bought Maryland’s sister and then he bought a very nice colt in Lexington this year and now this filly. Every trainer doesn’t have owners like that, so I’m just very grateful.”

Ake Svanstedt bought the sixth most expensive purchase of the day in Hip #168, a filly consigned by Preferred Equine named Empressofwalnford. The Walner filly is the first foal from Muscle Hill mare The Empress Ice, who is a full sister to Dan Patch 2-Year-Old Trotting Filly of 2018 The Ice Dutchess as well as world champion and Svanstedt graduate Ice Attraction.

“It’s a very good family, of course,” Svanstedt said. “She has value as a broodmare already now. If you buy a colt for this price, it’s more chance than to buy a filly. It’s for a Swedish owner. She looks good. She has a nice figure and a good-looking horse. She looks less like Ice Attraction, more like R Dutchess [a foal from The Ice Dutchess].”

OPENING SESSION WRAPS UP

The first session of the 2026 Black Book sale saw increases in gross and average. Day 1 of the 2026 sale saw $18,814,000 in gross sales for an average of $108,126, an increase from 2025’s gross of $16,293,000 by 15.5 per cent and of 2025’s average of $95,841 by 12.8 per cent.

“I thought maybe with what we had, we’d be up some,” said Dale Welk, president/director of operations for the Standardbred Horse Sales Company. “Once they got started today, it was just unbelievable. The crowd was phenomenal — I think it’s the biggest crowd we’ve had in the last three or four years. The parking lot’s packed. The small arena was packed. The back, they were still showing horses, so it was a nice crowd.

“With everything that’s going on — I know there were discussions today about the handles at racetracks, but they are still buying them and still buying big and that’s great. I’ve been doing this for over 50 years now, you know, so I went through the big heydays in the ’80s when you could sell anything for a phenomenal amount of money.”

Around 400 yearlings are slated to sell for the second session of the Black Book sale on Tuesday (Nov. 3), and Welk said he feels positive about the momentum from Monday’s session carrying over.

“I think we’re going to be good,” Welk said. “Maybe we won’t be up 13 or 15 per cent each day, but I think we’re going to be up. The reason I say that is because a lot of people got shut out today. I’ve had guys that normally come in here with seven, eight, nine slips that came in here with one. That’s exactly what they said, ‘I couldn’t get anything else.’ So, there’s money left.”

Session 2 of The Black Book sale will begin at 10 a.m. (EST).