In addition, New Zealander Dexter Dunn, who had a sensational first
full year campaigning in the United States and Canada, was voted as the Driver
of the Year by USHWA.
Ström, who with his outright-owned horses campaigns in red-and-gold
colors worn by the driver, saw Greenshoe and Gimpanzee each earn over $1
million while winning the majority of the sport’s major stakes for their group –
Greenshoe a Dancer division, the Zweig, a Bluegrass division, the Kentucky
Futurity, the Sire Stakes crown in New Jersey, and the Kentucky program’s
championship; Gimpanzee the Yonkers Trot, the Breeders Crown, the Matron, and
the New York Sire Stakes championship. Green Manalishi S added a Tompkins-Geers
division, the Simcoe, and the Canadian Trotting Classic; Hypnotic AM won her
New York Sire Stakes finale and the Doherty Memorial.
Despite sending only 16 starters, Courant and partners saw their horses
earn over $3.9 million, putting them in the North American Top Ten. Courant
also has powerful divisions of the stable in Sweden and in France, and Ström
put himself in position for future success by spending over $1.6 million at the
major yearling sales in Lexington and Harrisburg.
Melander, still only 27 years of age and coming off winning USHWA’s
Rising Star Award, continued his rapid ascent to harness racing’s top circles,
with his horses earning almost $5.4 million during 2019, fourth among all North
American trainers. The “Three G’s” who dominated the sophomore trotting ranks
of course were the primary contributors to that amount, but along with Hypnotic
AM Melander also sent out Cutler Memorial winner Cruzado Dela Noche, a 2018
winner of the Yonkers International Trot.
In addition, there were a host of young, bright prospects who showed
talent in limited campaigns and could come on like gangbusters in 2020
(remember, Greenshoe only started four times at two). With the firm support of
his family and staff (who frequently overlap), Melander certainly didn’t have
the “sophomore jinx” in 2019, and it would be no surprise if the winning
continued this coming year.
Melander’s family (including a Hambletonian-winning uncle) is from
Sweden – another North American “import,” Kiwi-born Dexter Dunn, came from Down
Under with sterling credentials, having won multiple New Zealand driving titles
and even the 2015 World Driving Championship. But his first full season of
driving in the United States and Canada produced success in quantity and
quality that few, not even Dexter, would have predicted.
Horses handled by the red-and-black-clad driver won over $11 million
during 2019, putting him third behind the perennial top pairing of Tim Tetrick
and Yannick Gingras. The fact that he won 457 races, also putting him in the
North American Top Ten, was also impressive but not that surprising since he
had won ten “Enzed” sulky dash titles before he reached his current age of 30,
but his seamless assimilation into the rarefied circles of top stakes
competition was the exclamation point on his year.
Dunn was the driver for sophomore colt pacer Bettor’s Wish, who was the
leading moneywinner of 2019 with over $1.6M in earnings and a 19-13-6-0 record
primarily completing in the “glamour division.” Amigo Volo (2TC) and Manchego
(OTM) benefited from his expertise in winning Breeders Crown events. He won
championships in state programs with Bettor’s Wish in Kentucky, Milles
Possesion in Pennsylvania, and Fortune Starlet in New Jersey. In his first full
year of driving at Harrah’s Philadelphia, Dunn finished third in the drivers
win standings, behind Tim Tetrick and George Napolitano Jr. – who between them
have won the last thirteen victory belts at the oval.
And just as Melander had some “family” behind him, so did Dunn – Chris
Ryder was the first to regularly use Dunn upon coming over, and a
disproportionate share of Australian and New Zealand expatriate conditions quickly, and soon unhesitatingly,
gave him regular work.
The remainder of the human and broodmare Dan Patch awardwinners are
being announced today and tomorrow; the twelve racehorse divisional champions
will be announced this Friday, January 3, at 6:30 p.m. on The Meadowlands’
“pre-races” show, with media releases following (availability to view that
announcement will be released shortly).
Anders Ström and Courant, Inc., Marcus Melander, and Dexter Dunn will be honored at USHWA’s annual Dan
Patch Awards Banquet, celebrating the best and brightest of harness racing in
the past year. The banquet honoring the champions of 2019 will be held on
Sunday, February 23, 2020 at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort in Orlando FL, the
climax of a weekend that also finds USHWA holding its annual national meetings.
The Trotter of the Year, Pacer of the Year, and Horse of the Year will be
revealed for the first time at the Banquet.
Tickets for the Dan Patch Awards Banquet are $180, with a filet mignon dinner featured; “post times” on February 23 are cocktails at 5:30 p.m., with dinner to follow. Tickets, and other Banquet-related information, can be obtained through Dinner Planning Committee Chair Judy Davis-Wilson, at zoe8874@aol.com or 302 359 3630.
Hotel reservations for those
attending can be made through USHWA’s website, www.ushwa.net; a link to the
hotel’s computer is on the front page of the website. Those who would like to
take out congratulatory ads for awardwinners in the always-popular Dan Patch
Awards Journal can do so by contacting Kim Rinker at trotrink@aol.com (the 2019 journal is online
at the writers’ website).
