Brinkerhoff’s connection to Beau Jangles’ family spans generations
by James Platz
Sunday night in Orlando, FL, undefeated Beau Jangles will be recognized as the sport’s top freshman male pacer during the Dan Patch Awards. The colt is also a strong contender for both Pacer of the Year and Horse of the Year honors. For Bruce Brinkerhoff, the evening will be a dream realized.
“It’s a dream come true,” he said. “I started as a young kid following harness horses, and I was interested in pedigrees and the breeding end of it. So, to be associated with these kinds of horses, it’s a dream come true and it’s such a pleasure.”
Brinkerhoff serves as co-sale manager for the Lexington Selected Sale, but he is also a successful bloodstock consultant. He counts Tara Hills Stud, breeder of Beau Jangles, as one of his longtime clients. When the Port Perry, ON farm relocated stallion Cattlewash to the province, Brinkerhoff had a hand in identifying and acquiring mares to be bred to the son of Somebeachsomewhere. This is where his past affiliations helped influence the future.
March will mark 40 years since Brinkerhoff first crossed paths with what would become the family of Beau Jangles. The date is forever seared in his memory.
“I went to work for Bob O’Donnell’s Hobby Horse Farm in Grafton, OH,” Brinkerhoff said. “I started March 23, 1986. I became the manager of the breeding division. The reason I know that is because I came in that morning and there was a foal laying there, he had been born that night. And that horse’s name was Chris Can’t Miss.”
Raised at Hobby Horse Farm and sold for $77,000 at the Kentucky Standardbred Sale as Hip #6, Chris Can’t Miss would debut as a freshman with a new name, Kassa Branca. The son of No Nukes went on to capture the Woodrow Wilson in a world record 1:52.3, breaking Nihilator’s mark from four years earlier.
While Kassa Branca is not tied to the lineage of Beau Jangles (apologies for the slight digression), mare Richelle Hanover is. Upon his arrival at Hobby Horse Farm, Brinkerhoff was also charged with raising a foal from the Dancer Hanover mare by first crop sire Ralph Hanover. The filly, named Osh Kosh B Gosh, was the 10th from the mare, then 17 years old. She would go on to race under the name of Buzzy’s Gal, only making $1,383. Her real value came later as a broodmare.
Brinkerhoff’s stay at Hobby Horse Farm lasted only three years, as O’Donnell retired and sold the property. He departed with a great appreciation for Richelle Hanover, which would come into play in the decades to come. For her part, the mare produced 12 different winners, including Jugette champion Misty Raquel, and the family has proven to be incredibly productive. More on that later.
Fast forward to the Harrisburg sale in 1999. Brinkerhoff was at the sale looking for New York-bred pacing fillies for a client. He settled on a yearling whose pedigree connected back to his Hobby Horse days.
“We looked at quite a few New York bred pacing fillies, and they wanted to know which one I liked the best,” he said. “Well, I kept coming back to one particular filly. She was a great granddaughter of that Richelle Hanover mare that I had at Hobby Horse Farm. I knew that pedigree and I loved that mare. I liked her conformation. I thought she was the best one for them to buy, which they did.”
Bunny Lake was the yearling in question. Her second dam, Rah Rah Rah, was a daughter of Richelle Hanover, and a six-time winner on the track with a 1:58.1 clocking. Bred by Peter Heffering, Bunny Lake would go on to win just over $2.8 million and was named the nation’s top sophomore pacing filly, Pacer of the Year, and Horse of the Year in 2001.
Leading into the 2022 Tattersalls Winter Mixed Sale at The Meadowlands, the Heffering family needed to acquire additional mares to pair with the new stallion they added to the Tara Hills offerings. Brinkerhoff worked with the family to put together a list of prospects that they felt could complement Cattlewash, one of which was purchased out of the Harrisburg sale. Still looking to add another, David Heffering attended the Tattersalls sale with the list.
“We looked through the catalog and picked out three or four mares that were in that catalog that would fit the budget we were looking for,” Brinkerhoff said. “Once again, I had found a mare that was from the family of Richelle Hanover, and this mare herself was a granddaughter of Bunny Lake. David had our list, and then he sent me pictures of the mare, and I thought she looked like she’d work.”
Mrs Major Hill won five times in her career, pacing in 1:53 as a sophomore. The Art Major mare is out of Bunny’s Legacy, the first foal from Bunny Lake and one of only four mares produced by the champion.
“She looked like she was a well-balanced, correct mare,” Brinkerhoff said. “And, you know, Cattlewash is a true ‘Somebeach’ line horse. There’s a lot of substance to him, and he’s a stout horse. She didn’t seem to be too big and too heavy, and would complement what Cattlewash was physically.”
And complement the sire she did. Beau Jangles, Mrs Major Hill’s first foal sold with the name TH Bo Jangles, turned in a flawless freshman campaign that could net additional hardware for the pacer’s connections Sunday night. Should the votes fall in Beau Jangles’ favor and he is named Horse of the Year, it would bring things full circle for the Heffering family. Brinkerhoff credits Tara Hills’ approach to breeding and the goal of producing top horses.
“The efforts with Tara Hills, it’s a team effort,” Brinkerhoff said. “With David Heffering and Norah Heffering and Matt Harrison, the farm manager. We put our heads together and we all have our different strengths, but we all work together to try to produce good horses.
“There are no guarantees in the breeding game. You just have to use your best judgment, and then hopefully it all works out.”
Last month Beau Jangles was named 2-Year-Old Pacing Colt of the Year and Horse of the Year in Canada. The success of the Dr. Ian Moore trainee again reinforced Brinkerhoff’s belief in the maternal line.
“I’ve certainly done well with that family,” he said. “It has treated me very well.”
Brinkerhoff believes that the descendants of Richelle Hanover have done so well that she merits consideration for the Hall of Fame. Besides Bunny Lake and Misty Raquel, horses tracing back to the broodmare have combined purse earnings of $81 million. That group includes the likes of two-time Dan Patch Award winner See You At Peelers, millionaires Chairmanoftheboard, Southwind Gendry, and Speed Again, O’Brien Award winner Its A Love Thing and Dan Patch 2-Year-Old Pacing Filly of the Year Geocentric.
“She was a special mare for us to be associated with,” Brinkerhoff said of Richelle Hanover’s potential candidacy. “There’s no better time to try to do it than right now. Strike while the iron is hot with Beau Jangles.”
