Beau Jangles brings largest sales tag in standardbred history

The stallion prospect and reigning U.S. and Canadian Horse of the Year fetched $3.7 million in Harrisburg.

by Ray Cotolo

Each click ticked the clock closer to three o’clock under the setting sun. At this time, an entourage out of the Northwood Bloodstock consignment led 3-year-old pacing colt Beau Jangles from the North Hall towards the back ring of the sales arena, where the son of Cattlewash out of Mrs Major Hill circled in anticipation for something that has never happened in harness racing history. Even though he was the sole occupant inside the mock fences of the West Hall, he filled the entire space.

As mentioned in Friday’s HRU, a reigning standardbred Horse of the Year has never gone through public auction. The gravity of such a circumstance weighed through the entirety of the week for the 2026 Standardbred Horse Sales Company (SHSC) auction in Harrisburg, PA. It served as a centerpiece conversation each day between friends, strangers, and colleagues. The day before, Beau Jangles’ main driver during most of his career, Bob McClure, trekked over six hours across the border to come to Harrisburg and see the big guy one last time, bringing with him a handful of black licorice as a “thank you” for all the horse did on the track.

“I feel very blessed to be the one to sit behind him for that magical season at 2,” McClure told HRU. “It was the ride I will never forget, and the industry grabbed ahold of him which made it even more special. I’m glad I got to Harrisburg to say thank you and goodbye. I believe he’ll be a great sire and I look forward to driving his babies.”

Beau Jangles entered the ring on Friday (Nov. 6) as Hip #1602, placed at a headline time of the session with only a handful of horses left to sell on the day. From all parts of the Complex, people condensed into the sales arena; every chair filled, every hallway packed. Bidding began with aggression, leaping immediately to $500,000 and then $1 million and ping ponging soon after to $2 million and then to $3 million. From there, the bids came with increasing reluctance. The camp of Steve Jones, among the underbidders, gave cautious nods tucked in the wings towards the North Hall and stayed in the hunt until $3.5 million, with Jones bowing out at a simple shake of his head to the auctioneer.

At that point, the bids upped to $3.7 million and the air became still. The auctioneer asked for the room to hold applause, but once he banged the gavel applause nonetheless ensued, causing Beau Jangles to circle through the ring and bringing the room to silence while they waited for Beau Jangles to exit. The crowd then celebrated the occasion with more applause.

“He was sharp and looked around, like most good horses,” said Bob Boni, operating as consignor through his Northwood Bloodstock. “He just took it all in and was part of the excitement. To look at a horse like Beau Jangles, who is as good an individual as you’re ever going to see, and to watch him stay through the days and be good and sharp and attentive. I’ve said this 100 times already, but I thank the owners who gave me the opportunity and a special tribute to Dr. [Ian] Moore because, this horse, his condition was superlative for this time of year and racing, training, traveling… to look as good as he looked in the flesh.”

The winning bid on Beau Jangles came over the phone from several continents away. John Curtin of Auckland, NZ put through the winning offer.

“The phone has not stopped ringing, I’ve had 100 messages here and I can’t answer them,” said Curtin over the phone, adding with a laugh, “Can I ask your clients if they can all lend me $100 bucks towards the horse? That’d be great to help me pay for it.”

Curtin, answering at 10:30 a.m. local time, could only confirm at the time that the plan for Beau Jangles is to send him to stud and to manage him as a shuttle stallion between the North America and Australasia.

He told the USTA’s Ken Weingartner that Beau Jangles will mostly likely race this month in the Matron Stakes and Progress Pace, both at Bally’s Dover Downs, before being retired to begin his stallion career.

“He’ll definitely be a shuttle stallion,” Curtin said, adding with another laugh, “There are no arrangements, as of this moment, but I’ve had 100 calls so maybe every stud has rang us. I haven’t taken the calls and I’ve got to ring them all back. I don’t know what they are all ringing for.”

The $3.7 million figure paid for Beau Jangles breaks the previous record for a standardbred at public auction of $1.85 million when Amazing Catch went through the ring during the 2024 SHSC Mixed Sale. Coincidentally, Amazing Catch sold a few horses after Beau Jangles on Friday, bringing $50,000 from John Collings of Prince Edward Island, signing as agent.

FRIDAY’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

Sophomore trotting filly Victorianas Secret, a supplement to the Mixed Sale as Hip #1604, brought the second highest price of the Friday session, selling for $875,000 to agent Robert Lindstrom of Sweden. Lindstrom confirmed to HRU that the new Swedish ownership decided to keep Victorianas Secret in North America for her 4-year-old season and will move her into Ake Svanstedt’s stable.

“We are planning for a European tour for her,” Lindstrom said, “but as a 4-year-old — it’s too much money [to miss] and for the group members, it will be a better choice.”

Another supplement, Hip #1601 Yankee Boss, brought big numbers when selling as the third most expensive horse of the day at $430,000. Johnathan Roberts’ Kiwi Stables, part of the original ownership of the 2-year-old son of Captain Corey, signed the ticket in the buyback. The last supplement of the session, Hip #1603 Spencer Hanover, brought $335,000 but did not sell.

Broodmare prospects composed the bulk of the session’s top purchases. Among the top 10, Dana Parham’s Odds On Racing acquired Hip #1410 Champagne Room, a 4-year-old daughter of Papi Rob Hanover out of champion mare See You At Peelers, for $340,000. Armitage Farm, leading all buyers on the week aside from the Beau Jangles auction, snatched Hip #1412 Winnpanzee, a 4-year-old daughter of Gimpanzee out of Breeders Crown winner Winndevie, for $300,000 as well as Hip #1401 Sharp Seven, a 4-year-old Chapter Seven mare, for $275,000. Hip #1377 Seaside Shuffle, selling as the seventh most expensive horse of the session at $280,000, is the lone mare of the aforementioned to stay in training according to conditioner Doug Dilloian, Jr., who signed as agent for the purchase.

Michelle Panebianco and Crawford Farms continued its restock on Friday and made several prominent purchases to emerge as the fourth top buyer of the whole sale. Among their Friday purchases were Hip #1373 I’m A Lou Lou, a stakes-winning daughter of Sweet Lou, for $225,000 and Hip #1381 Aperfect Annie, another daughter of Googoo Gaagaa to join Call Me Goo in the broodmare band, for $200,000.

Hip #1400 Rani Hanover, the first foal of 2020 Hambletonian winner Ramona Hill, also placed among the top sellers of the day when selling for $210,000 to Bryan Montgomery, who signed as agent for Herb Liverman. Hip #1397 Maya Patel Hanover, a daughter of Captain Corey, also brought $210,000 on the day when leaving the ring for purchaser Hanover Shoe Farms.

SALES’ END

The 2026 SHSC wrapped with a gross of $67,602,000 from 1,381 sales across the five days, 10 per cent shy of the all-time record of $70,474,000 set at the 2025 SHSC that saw 200 more horses go through the ring. The average increased 2.6 per cent year-over-year with the median also increasing from $22,000 in 2025 to $25,000 in 2026. Friday alone grossed $15,570,000 from 192 horses sold while the two days of the Mixed Sale grossed $27,562,000 from 495 sales.

“I think the market’s consistent year over year,” said David Reid of Preferred Equine, which led all consigners for the week with more than $14.8 million in sales. “I wouldn’t say it was better and I wouldn’t say it was worse, which is important. Fabulous Fillies, there was a lot of interest in them. I’m not surprised on the outcome of those. It’s always a great week here, you have a little bit of everything and you get a good pulse on the industry. You see a lot of people. It resets the market a little bit and it was a very successful week overall.”

Dale Welk, president/director of operations for the SHSC said, “I think with fewer horses, some horses got a lot more attention. Not a lot, but more attention than they would’ve gotten. Some horses, they might have been $160,000 or $170,000 horses and they ended up bringing $210,000, $220,000, $230,000 because they didn’t have a lot to choose from.”

Beau Jangles’ fireworks to wrap the week also provided another career highlight for Dale Welk, in just his fifth year as president of SHSC. In his tenure, he has seen the sale beat its all-time record for gross sales in the 2022 yearling sale, has overseen the sale’s first million-dollar yearling, and has twice broken the record for the most expensive standardbred sold, to name a few feats.

“The only other thing to see would be if I could sell five million-dollar horses in one year, you know?” Welk said with a smile. “It’s just incredible. We’ve just seen history made here today and it’s something I don’t think we’ll ever see again. With that many people in there, the place was packed and the buzz – cameras were flashing and phones were flashing and it was pretty cool. I still think this kind of auction for mixed [sales] is where you need to be.”