Ron McLellan on chasing the Crown with Prince Hal Hanover

by Melissa Keith

Only the second of two 2026 Grade 1 Canadian Pacing Derby eliminations barred show wagering. The clear reason was the 1-2 favorite, 2025 Dan Patch and O’Brien Older Pacing Horse of the Year Ervin Hanover (p, 5, 1:46.2s; $1,514,150). To his outside on that July evening at Woodbine Mohawk Park, another son of Captaintreacherous faced the formidable field from post 9, which has produced just 4.9 per cent of winning pacers this year at Mohawk.

Prince Hal Hanover (p, 3, 1:47.2m; $1,786,712) and driver Todd McCarthy were ready.

Crossing over to race second-over fifth into the first turn, the 4-year-old stallion followed the cover of Ervin Hanover to the quarter, then advanced uncovered to the half. After he cleared the favorite, Prince Hal Hanover led to three-quarters, vulnerable after getting there in 1:20.4. Dexter Dunn pulled the pocket with Ervin Hanover, and Women Layer unleashed a late kick down the center of the track. In the three-horse win photo, “Prince Hal” held on by a determined nose for his fastest (1:48 flat) victory this year. Afterward, there was a winner’s circle presentation celebrating his reaching $2-million (CDN) in career earnings.

“He keeps going forward, but he’s not too far from going to stud,” said Ron McLellan, a member of the Prince Hal Hanover Stable of Cambridge, ON. McLellan lives in Bathurst, New Brunswick and has owned horses with trainer Dr. Ian Moore for decades, including Prince Hal’s maternal grandsire Shadow Play (p, 4, 1:47.4m;  $1,549,881).

With post 5 in the Breeders Crown open pace final on tonight (Oct. 24) at Scioto Downs, McLellan said Prince Hal Hanover’s fortune may have turned for the better, when it counts most.

“We hit some real luck,” he said of the draw. “To be honest with you, he’s a lot like Shadow Play; he earns every penny he races for. I remember when we raced Shadow Play as a 4-year-old [with co-owner Serge Savard of St. Bruno, QC], he didn’t go right to stud. Shadow Play was syndicated as a 3-year-old and Blue Chip [Farms] wanted to race him as a 4-year-old, and with Prince Hal, it’s the same way. It’s hard to race 4-year-olds against 5-year-olds.”

Prince Hal Hanover has built a reputation as a horse who races best on the front end, as he did in three straight wins at the start of his 2026 season, including the Grade 2 Charles Juravinski Memorial elimination and final at Flamboro Downs. In last year’s Grade 1 Breeders Crown 3-year-old colt and gelding pace elimination at Mohawk, Prince Hal wired rivals as well, but his place finish in the 2026 Breeders Crown open pace last Saturday night (Oct. 17) showed a side that McLellan considers overlooked.

“He wants to win and he can race any way you want,” he told HRU on Wednesday (Oct. 21). “I think he’s better from behind, but he doesn’t get a chance.”

In his latest Breeders Crown elimination, Prince Hal Hanover got away single-file third as 2-1 favorite. He sat patiently along the pylons as Ervin Hanover challenged Calicojack Hanover for early command, only tipping first-over approaching three-quarters. Drawing alongside leader Ervin Hanover down the stretch, Prince Hal was stung in the final strides by fast-closing Dandy Ideal.

“They’re a good group of horses,” McLellan said. “They’re fast and they’re tough, and, well, it’s the best horses in North America. Honestly, he’s been racing that [class] almost since the day [Moore] put a harness on him. We started him in the [2024] Tompkins-Geers, which he won in Toronto.”

That maiden-breaking Mohawk debut was from off the pace for driver Bob McClure. Prince Hal Hanover’s only other 2-year-old win was in a Pennsylvania Sire Stakes division on Aug. 4 at Pocono, but he hit the board in seven of 10 seasonal starts, finishing second in the Grade 1 Metro Pace elim and final.

At 3, Prince Hal Hanover started the year with sharp back-to-back qualifying wins at Southern Oaks Training Centre in Sorrento, FL, Moore’s winter training base. After front-end wins in a PASS leg at Pocono and the Grade 3 Somebeachsomewhere at Mohawk, he closed in :25.4 to nearly collar Louprint in their Grade 1 Pepsi North America Cup elimination. He started from post 9 in the North America Cup final, a “race that he never even got to race,” in McLellan’s view.

“David [Miller] took him back to last,” McLellan said. “At the quarter pole, he was 12¾ lengths behind. He lost by four lengths.”

He finished eighth despite closing in :26.3, the fastest last quarter.

There was another literal setback in the horse’s next Grand Circuit race.

“As a 3-year-old, Prince Hal won the Grade 1 Meadowlands Pace, and was placed second for interference,” his owner said. “A few years earlier we were placed first [with Lawless Shadow in 2021].”

A combination of gate speed and late speed served Prince Hal Hanover well in the 2025 Grade 1 Adios final at The Meadows, which he won by a head over Swingtown.

“He drew the 8-hole, and they were eight-wide,” McLellan said of the Adios final. “It was the 29th year, and I believe he was only the second horse to win the Adios from the 8-hole in the history of the Adios.”

With 14 wins from 25 starts last year, Prince Hal Hanover could have rested on his laurels. He had also been treated for a quarter crack that developed late in his sophomore season as a result of wear and tear over some hard tracks.

“We normally sold our horses at the end of the 3-year-old season, almost always, or if they were going to stand stud.” McLellan said. “But in this case, Ian said to me in February, ‘You know, we raced him late last year [2025]… He normally gets three months off; he ended up getting 2½ months at the most, and he probably could’ve used another whole month to get him ready to race.’ He said he had to let Prince Hal Hanover’s hobbles out, I think an inch and half in February.”

It was worth keeping Prince Hal Hanover to see what he was capable of at age 4. McLellan said the only frustrating part was how luck was seldom on his horse’s side.

“I’ve never owned a horse that never at one point in time got the perfect opportunity,” he said. “He never got it once. I thought he had it, maybe, when he went to Lexington two weeks ago in the Allerage. But it’s pouring rain and everything, and he won in [1]:49 [over a good surface, 1 second variant]. We were hoping for good weather. I really believe the horse can pace a mile in [1]:46.”

Prince Hal Hanover’s most impressive performance may have been his place finish in the June 6 Grade 2 Battle of Lake Erie.

“I would say one of the best races he ever went was the one at Northfield,” his owner said. “[1]:48.4 on a half-mile track and he was parked the whole mile. I believe, coming off the last turn, he was five-wide. It was crazy.”

Although he finished second by a nose to Mossdale Ben N that race, he came home in co-fastest :28 flat last quarter for driver Matt Kakaley. The adventurous off-the-pace trip was worth it, in McLellan’s opinion.

“When you can race them any way, you have to take your chances,” he said.

Finishing on the board in 17 of his 18 starts so far this year, Prince Hal Hanover grew into the potential he initially showed as a $130,000 yearling at Lexington. Although McLellan didn’t attend that 2023 sale, he told Moore he was interested in the colt on the basis of pedigree and video.

“[Moore] said, ‘He just looks like a real nice horse, but he’s going to have to develop,’” McLellan said with a laugh. “He didn’t stop growing since. He’s still growing.” 

There was plenty to like about the young Prince Hal Hanover.

“He was the first colt of the mare, Percy Bluechip, and she was a tremendous mare,” McLellan said. “Her first lifetime start, she won at Georgian [Downs] in 1:51.2, and that was a record for a 2-year-old filly. She was a full sister to Arthur Blue Chip, and she was identical to him. They would just float over the ground, and they were big horses.”

Both Percy Bluechip and Arthur Blue Chip were O’Brien divisional champs at age 2. McLellan said he thought that Prince Hal Hanover “still had more to show people” as a 5-year-old, but partners on the horse were leaning heavily toward sending him to stud. This was confirmed in a joint announcement by Dr. J Stallion Management and Blue Chip Farms on Wednesday (Oct. 21). Prince Hal Hanover will be syndicated late this year, and will stand at Blue Chip in Wallkill, NY in 2027.

“We were approached last year [by several interested parties], also,” McLellan said.

While he cannot attend Prince Hal Hanover’s last race due to an illness in the family, McLellan will be watching attentively from his Maritime home. He has never won a Breeders Crown, despite sharing ownership of many top horses over his 55 years in the business.

“We’ve had a lot of good horses, more than most people in 10 lifetimes,” he said, grateful for the success he’s enjoyed with Moore and a slew of other friends and partners.

For Prince Hal Hanover to go out on top would be a fairy tale ending.

“There weren’t very many overnights in his life,” McLellan said. “This is his 50th race… I’d love to see him have some luck, just for the horse, you know, in the Breeders Crown.”