HARRISBURG PA – The United States Harness Writers Association
(USHWA), the sport’s largest organization for communicators of the Standardbred
sport, presents the announcement schedule for the naming of the 2016 Harness
Horse of the Year, the Trotter and Pacer of the Year, and the various
divisional awardwinners.
These announcements are made with the partnership of Hoosier Park,
who is the title presenter of USHWA’s Dan Patch Awards Banquet, to be held
Sunday, February 26, 2017 at the Planet Hollywood casino in Las Vegas, and with
the U. S. Trotting Association (USTA), who prepares the statistics mailed to
eligible voters and then tallies the incoming voting.
On Thursday, December 15, a press release will be coming from Harness Racing
Communications (HRC), shortly after noon, listing the six winners in
the various age/sex divisions for trotters. A similar release will be sent
for pacers the next day, Friday, December 16, just after twelve noon.
On Monday, December 19, at twelve noon, there will be an
announcement of the Trotter and Pacer of the Year, followed by the naming of
the 2016 Harness Horse of the Year. This will be a live announcement,
streamed over the Facebook pages of USHWA, Hoosier Park, and the Harness Racing
Fan Zone. The show will be hosted by Emily Gaskin, Hoosier’s Race Marketing
Manager and the winner of USHWA’s 2014 Breakthrough Award for an up-and-coming
person in industry management or communications.
A full press release detailing the particulars of these
announcements will be sent out by HRC immediately after the awards are
announced on Monday.
The winners of the “human” Dan Patch Awards (which do include the
Broodmares of the Year) will be announced during the rest of the week after
Monday’s Horse of the Year announcement.
