On Saturday, January 28, Standardbred Canada announced harness
racing’s national champions at the 2016 O’Brien Awards, which honour Canada’s
best in harness racing over the past season.
This was the 28th edition of the O’Brien Awards, named in honour
of the late Joe O’Brien, an outstanding horseman and member of the Canadian
Horse Racing Hall of Fame.
It was a big night for several winners who took home more than one
O’Brien trophy.
Betting Line, co-owned and trained by Casie Coleman of Cambridge,
Ont., who shares ownership with West Wins Stable, Christine Calhoun and
Mac Nichol, took home two O’Briens – one in the three-year-old pacing colt
category and one as Canada’s Horse of the Year.
Marvin Katz of Toronto, Ont., and Al Libfeld of
Pickering, Ont., were honoured for the second consecutive year with the
Armstrong Breeder of the Year Award, and their two-year-old trotting filly,
Ariana G won the O’Brien in her division. Katz also shares ownership on
Idyllic Beach who was honoured as Canada’s Two-Year-Old Pacing Filly of the
Year.
Rick Zeron of Oakville, Ont., took home the O’Brien Award of
Horsemanship and his two-year-old trotting colt, Mass Production was also
honoured with an O’Brien.
Driver Sylvain Filion, of Milton, Ont., and trainer Richard Moreau
of Puslinch, Ont., added to their trophy collections, both winning National
honours in their respective categories for the fourth time in their careers.
Betting Line was almost perfect
in 2016, finishing the season with 14 wins and a second in 15 races to go along
with almost $1.7 million in earnings. The Bettors Delight colt’s victories
included the $1-million Pepsi North America Cup, the Battle of the Brandywine,
the Milstein Memorial, the Little Brown Jug, the Simcoe Stakes, and a sweep of
all of his Ontario Sires Stakes races, including his OSS Super Final.
What started as a partnership that focused on buying yearlings and
racing horses has evolved into one of harness racing's most respected breeding
enterprises for Marvin Katz and Al Libfeld. Horses bred by this partnership won
29 races and purses in excess of $1.3 million in 2016. Their top horses were
All The Time, O’Brien winner Ariana G, Princess Aurora and O Narutac Perfecto.
Canada’s Two-Year-Old Trotting Filly of the year, Ariana G won nine of 11 races
and earned $804,245 during her rookie campaign. Stakes wins for the
Muscle Hill filly included the Breeders Crown, Jim Doherty Memorial, Peaceful
Way elimination and final, and New Jersey Sire Stakes Championship.
Veteran horseman Rick Zeron continued to successfully compete as a
trainer and driver on the Woodbine Entertainment Group (WEG) circuit. Last year
he drove 116 winners and horses to almost $2.6 million in purse earnings,
while training 49 winners and horses to $1.7
million in earnings, including Mass Production, winner of the O’Brien Award in
the two-year-old trotting colt category.
The Muscle Mass colt, Mass Production, won five of nine races
and more than $285,000 during his rookie campaign. His victories included four
Ontario Sires Stakes wins highlighted by a season’s best 1:54.4 stakes record
effort in the OSS Super Final.
Sylvain Filion, a resident of Milton,
Ont., won Canada’s Driver of the Year title in 2012, 2013 and 2015 before
collecting his fourth bronze for the 2016 season. In 2016, he drove 310 winners
and led all Canadian drivers in the earnings column with more than $7.7
million, while joining the $100 million club for lifetime earnings.
Filion was the regular driver for O’Brien champion, two-year-old pacing colt
Beyond Delight.
Richard Moreau, of Puslinch, Ont., took
home his fourth consecutive O’Brien trophy. Moreau, who has been a regular on
the WEG circuit for over 12 years, led all Canadian trainers in the wins column
with 249 wins to his credit and trained the winners of nearly $4.0 million.
Louis-Philippe Roy was recognized as the Future Star winner.
In 2016, the Mont-Joli, QC resident put together some phenomenal numbers,
winning 233 races and driving horses to earnings of more than $1 million.
Roy was the leading dash winning driver at Hippodrome 3R and Rideau Carleton
Raceway.
Idyllic Beach was honoured in the
two-year-old pacing filly division. She hit the board in all of her
14 races, boasted eight wins and almost $730,000 in purse earnings. Major
stakes wins for the Somebeachsomewhere filly included the Shes A Great Lady
elimination and final at Mohawk Racetrack, along with the Kentuckiana Stakes at
Hoosier Park, and the International Stallion Stake at The Red Mile.
The Bettors Delight colt Beyond Delight, winner in the
Two-Year-Old Pacing Colt category, won three of 11 races and more than
$423,000 for his connections. His three wins were major ones as he swept the
elimination and final of the Metro Pace and won a division of the Champlain
Stakes, all at Mohawk Racetrack.
L A Delight picked up her second
consecutive O’Brien trophy after putting together another stellar season as a
sophomore, winning nine races in 19 starts and more than $787,000. The
three-year-old pacing filly was perfect in the Ontario Sires Stakes events,
sweeping six of six, including the season-ending Super Final. She posted a
life’s best 1:49.1 in winning the Nadia Lobell at The Meadows.
Lady Shadow also won her second
consecutive O’Brien Award in the Older Pacing Mare category. She put together
another profitable season with 12 victories and more than $945,000 in earnings.
She was strong throughout the season, sweeping the elimination and final of the
Roses Are Red, the Milton Stakes, and the elimination and final of the Breeders
Crown before capping her year with a win in the TVG FFA at The Meadowlands.
Wiggle It Jiggleit, the sport’s richest
harness horse last season with $1.8 million bankrolled was voted Canada’s Older
Pacing Horse of the Year. He never finished worse than third in his 24
races which included 15 wins and a mark of 1:47.2 posted in the Graduate Final
at The Meadowlands. The multiple stakes winner captured Canada’s oldest stakes
event, The Canadian Pacing Derby at Mohawk Racetrack and also secured runner-up
finishes in the Confederation Cup and Prix d'Été on Canadian soil.
Caprice Hill won her second
consecutive O’Brien, after a profitable campaign in 2016 with eight wins in 15
starts and purses in excess of $630,000 for her connections. The Three-Year-Old
Trotting Filly of the Year won three of four Ontario Sires Stakes events, the
Casual Breeze, Simcoe Stakes and was runner-up in the Hambletonian Oaks.
Marion Marauder took divisional honours
as Canada’s Three-Year-Old Trotting Colt of the Year. He was a winner of
10 of 15 starts, became the ninth Trotting Triple Crown winner in 2016 –- and
first since 2006 –- by sweeping the Hambletonian, Yonkers Trot, and Kentucky
Futurity. The son of Muscle Hill won the Goodtimes Stakes and a division of the
Stanley Dancer Memorial en route to a season that amassed more than $1.5
million in purses, topping the North American earnings charts for all trotters.
The incredible trotting mare Hannelore Hanover won 17 of 20 races
and earned $1.1 million in purses, leading all female trotters in earnings and
winning the O’Brien in her division. Her victories included the Breeders Crown
Mare Trot and the Hambletonian Maturity, where she defeated male rivals. She
also beat the boys in the Centaur Trotting Classic in addition to winning the
Armbro Flight Stakes, TVG Series championship for female trotters, Fresh
Yankee, Muscle Hill, and Miami Valley Distaff. Her mile time of 1:51 in winning
the Armbro Flight equaled the world record for a four-year-old trotting mare.
Flanagan Memory was recognized as Older
Trotting Horse of the Year. The now seven-year-old son of Kadabra won six of 14
races including the Allerage, and the Breeders Crown Championship, and banked
more than $663,000 last season. This was his second O’Brien Award as he
won Three-Year-Old Trotting Colt honours in 2013.
The Media Excellence Awards and Outstanding Groom Award were also
presented at the O’Brien Awards gala.
Teesha Symes, 27, of Cambridge, Ont., was recognized with the
Outstanding Groom Award for 2016. Symes has worked for
O’Brien Award winner Dr. Ian Moore for the last decade, and full-time since 2012.
The Springhill, N.S. native cared for State Treasurer, Canada’s Horse of the
Year in 2015, throughout his racing career.
In addition to State Treasurer, Symes went on the road to care for
Rockin In Heaven the past two years and also cared for many of the Moore
Stables’ two-year-olds.
Keith McCalmont of Toronto, Ont. won in the Outstanding Written
Work category for his contribution to the ‘Remembering Those Lost’
feature, published in the February 2016 issue of TROT Magazine.
McCalmont talked to some of the trainers and owners most affected by the tragic
barn fire at Classy Lane Training Centre and asked them to share some memories
of their beloved horses.
Woodbine Entertainment’s 2016 Pepsi North America Cup
broadcast in HD won the Media Excellence Award in the Outstanding
Video, Film or Broadcast category.
‘The Pepsi North America Cup’ aired across Canada on the TSN2
television network on Saturday, June 18, 2016 from 10:00 – 11:00 p.m. The
60-minute special broadcast of the $1- Million Pepsi North America Cup aired in
high definition and featured live race coverage of the main event as well as a
feature on Emprize Hanover and her two foals.
Clive Cohen’s photo of October racing at Mohawk Racetrack in
Campbellville, Ont. was the winner in the Outstanding Photography category.
This marked the third time that Cohen has won in this category.
Cohen's photo was taken on October 1, 2016, at Mohawk Racetrack
and published later that night on the WEG Standardbred Instagram feed. Cohen is
the resident track photographer for Standardbred racing at Mohawk and Woodbine
Racetracks.
Here is a complete list of winners and their respective owners:
2016 O’BRIEN AWARD WINNERS
PACERS
TWO-YEAR-OLD FILLY PACER
Idyllic Beach
Owned by Christina Takter, East
Windsor, NJ – John Fielding, Toronto, ON – Brixton Medical Inc., Matawan, NJ and
Marvin Katz, Toronto, ON
TWO-YEAR-OLD COLT PACER
Beyond Delight
Owned by Jeffrey Snyder, Michael
Snyder, New York, NY and Four Friends Racing Stable LLC, Moorestown, NJ
THREE-YEAR-OLD FILLY PACER
L A Delight
Owned by Robert McIntosh Stables Inc.,
Windsor, ON – CSX Stables, Liberty Center, OH, and Al McIntosh Holdings, Inc.,
Leamington, ON
THREE-YEAR-OLD COLT PACER
Betting Line
Owned by West Wins Stable, Cambridge,
ON, Christine Calhoun, Chatham, ON and Mac Nichol, Burlington, ON
OLDER PACING MARE
Lady Shadow
Owned by David Kryway, Amherstburg,
ON, Carl Atley, Xenia, OH, Ed Gold, Phoenixville, PA and BFJ Stable,
Philadelphia, PA
OLDER PACING HORSE
Wiggle It Jiggleit
Owned by George Teague Jr Inc.,
Harrington DE – Teague Racing Partnership, Boynton Beach, FL
TROTTERS
TWO-YEAR-OLD FILLY TROTTER
Ariana G
Owned by Marvin Katz, Toronto, ON
& Al Libfeld, Pickering, ON
TWO-YEAR-OLD COLT TROTTER
Mass Production
Owned by Rick Zeron Stables, Oakville,
ON- James Walker, Port Perry, ON- Bruno Dipoce, Wasaga Beach, ON and Rene
Allard, Matamoras, PA
THREE-YEAR-OLD FILLY TROTTER
Caprice Hill
Owned by Tom Hill, Hamilton, ON
THREE-YEAR-OLD COLT TROTTER
Marion Marauder
Owned by Marion Jean Wellwood,
Stratford, ON & Devin Keeling, Cambridge, ON
OLDER TROTTING MARE
Hannelore Hanover
Owned by Burke Racing Stable LLC,
Fredericktown – Weaver Bruscemi LLC, Canonsburg, PA – Frank Baldachino,
Clarksburg, NJ – J And T Silva Stables LLC, Long Beach, NY
OLDER TROTTING HORSE
Flanagan Memory
Owned by Liette Flanagan, Repentigny –
Rene Dion, Saint-Lazare, QC
HORSE OF THE YEAR
Betting Line
Owned by West Wins Stable, Cambridge,
ON, Christine Calhoun, Chatham, ON and Mac Nichol, Burlington, ON
PEOPLE AWARDS
O’BRIEN AWARD OF HORSEMANSHIP
Rick Zeron, Oakville, ON
ARMSTRONG BREEDER OF THE YEAR
Marvin Katz, Toronto, ON / Al Libfeld,
Pickering, ON
DRIVER OF THE YEAR
Sylvain Filion, Milton, ON
TRAINER OF THE YEAR
Richard Moreau, Puslinch, ON
FUTURE STAR AWARD
Louis Philippe Roy, Mont-Joli, QC
ADDITIONAL AWARDS PRESENTED AT THE
O’BRIEN AWARDS
Outstanding Groom Award
Teesha Symes, Cambridge, ON
Standardbred Canada’s Media Excellence
Awards
Written Work – Keith McCalmont
Broadcast – Woodbine Entertainment
Group
Photography - Clive Cohen
