MANALAPAN,
NJ – December 21, 2015 – Trotting filly Mission Brief has been named the winner
of the Secretary of Agriculture’s
Trophy as New Jersey Standardbred of the Year for 2015.
Also
selected New Jersey Sire Stakes Horse of the Year, Mission Brief will be
honored on January 24, 2016 at the 59th Annual New Jersey Breeders
Awards Luncheon at 1 p.m. at O’Connor’s Restaurant [formerly Charley’s Other
Brother] in Eastampton, NJ.
Voted
the nation’s Two-Year-Old Trotting Filly of the Year in 2014, she also won the
Dan Patch Award as Three-Year-Old Trotting Filly of the Year in 2015.
The
daughter of Muscle Hill–Southwind Serena wrapped up her three-year-old campaign
with 10 wins and three seconds in 14 starts, banking more than $1 million
toward a career total of $1,599,587 for the ownership of the Burke Racing
Stable, Our Horse Cents Stables, J&T Silva Stables and Weaver Bruscemi
LLC. The Ron Burke trainee was regularly driven by Yannick Gingras.
Undefeated
in her New Jersey Sires Stakes competition, including the $100,000 final at the
Meadowlands, she also won the $307,040 ElegantImage at Mohawk Raceway, the $185,000 Zweig at Vernon Downs, the
$187,400 Matron at Dover Downs, the $144,000 Continentalvictory at the
Meadowlands and the $174,000 Money Maker at The Meadows.
She made a bid to best the boys in the $1 million Hambletonian at the
Meadowlands, winning her elimination, but finishing second to Pinkman in the $1
million final on August 8.
Bred by Steve H. Stewart, Black Creek Farm and
Andrea Lea Racing Stables Inc., she sold for $150,000 at the Lexington Selected
Sale.
At two, she won both the Merrie Annabelle and
Breeders Crown, for nine wins in 13 starts and earnings just shy of $600,000.
She collected 150 of 156 votes for freshman
honors in 2014, and 118 of 136 votes for 2015 divisional honors.
Her 1:50.3 mark still stands as the fastest mile
by a two-year-old trotter, male or female, and she lowered her personal best to
1:50.2 on November 12, 2015 on the five-eighths mile track at Dover Downs in
the Matron Final.
Her
sire, Muscle Hill was the 2009 New Jersey Standardbred of the Year.
Tickets
for the luncheon cost $40 per person and may be purchased from the New Jersey
Department of Agriculture, Division of Markets & Development, Horse
Industry, PO Box 330, Trenton, NJ 08625. For further information, call
609-984-4389 or email Lynn.Mathews@ag.state.nj.us
