Champion Hansel Back in America

Hansel, the 1991 champion and dual classic winner for Joe Allbritton, recently arrived back in the United States from Japan and has taken up residence at Allbritton's Lazy Lane Farms near Upperville, Va.

"He looks good for being 18," said farm manager Frank Shipp.
Hansel, who was bought by Sheikh Maktoum's Gainsborough Farm following his racing career, stood first at Gainsborough near Versailles, Ky., then at Questroyal Stud in New York state before being sold to a Japanese outfit in 1999 for stallion duty at Hidaka Stallion Station. At the time of the sale, Allbritton expressed an interest in re-acquiring Hansel at a later date.

Bred in Virginia by Marvin Little Jr., Hansel was voted champion 3-year-old male after winning the 1991 Preakness (gr. I), Belmont (gr. I), Jim Beam (gr. II, in track record time), and the Lexington (gr. II) Stakes. His career ended with an injury during a runner-up effort in that year's Travers Stakes (gr. I), and he retired with seven wins from 14 starts and earnings of $2,936,586.

Hansel (Woodman--Count On Bonnie, by Dancing Count) has sired 18 stakes winners, including champions Loving Claim (in France) and Fruits of Love (in Dubai); grade II winners Guided Tour, Magellan> and Quantum Merit; and Prince of Thieves, who was third in the 1996 Kentucky Derby (gr. I). Hansel ran unplaced in the Run for the Roses as the favorite.

Hansel did not sire a single stakes winner in Japan. Plans for Hansel's future have not been decided, but if the Mr. Prospector grandson is pensioned, he will stay at Lazy Lane.