ALSO VOTED GOOD GUY AWARD BY U.S. HARNESS
WRITERS ASSOCIATION;
EMERALD HIGHLANDS FARM’S BRUCE TROGDON
SELECTED AS TOP OWNER
HARRISBURG PA – Brian Brown, who trains at the fairgrounds in the
Little Brown Jug’s hometown of Delaware OH and had been steadily making a
bigger mark among North American conditioners over the last couple of years,
had his breakthrough year in 2017, training two three-year-old colt pacers who
were the leaders of their division much of the year and who were 1-2 in
seasonal earnings, along with a star age/gait counterpart filly. These
achievements earned Brown the Trainer of the Year Award as voted by the sport’s
leading media organization, the U.S. Harness Writers Association, and
they contributed mightily to his also being named the organization’s Good Guy
Award winner for consistent, intelligent cooperation with the sport’s media.
The 53-year-old Brown saw his two top sophomore colts earn $2.95M
between them – Downbytheseaside ($1,602,452), whose late-season heroics
included a win in the Breeders Crown and being named divisional champion, and
Fear The Dragon ($1,350,146), who had ranked #1 in the weekly pools for much of
the summer into the fall after major stakes wins throughout North America.
(Ironically, one of the few major events not taken by one or the other of the
Brown sophomore powerhouses was the Little Brown Jug, although Fear The Dragon
did win the first heat.)
Joining Downbytheseaside as a Breeders Crown winner and divisional
champion was three-year-old pacing filly Blazin Britches, an $800,000+ earner.
And the rest of the Brown barn contributed earnings in the vicinity of $2
million, giving Brian a lifetime seasonal high bankroll of over $5.7M, despite
starting fewer than 550 horses (he had a .402 UTR).
There were many highs during the campaigns of these three top
horses, but there were also the inevitable dips in form and bouts with minor
illnesses that virtually all racehorses experience. Whether in the winners
circle, puzzling over an off performance, or pondering his charges’ upcoming
races, Brown kept up an honest, informational stream of conversation (with consistent
praise for the members of “Team Brown”) to a media whose readers wanted to know
more about these equine stars. If Brown was elated by a horse’s top effort to
win a big stake, there was no mistaking his enjoyment; similarly, if a horse’s
form was rollercoastering a bit, you felt like you were on the up-and-down ride
with Brown, awaiting the next turn in the journey. His intelligent candor
enabled Brown to be selected for the Good Guy award, along with his Trainer of
the Year honors.
Brown’s adept handling of Fear The Dragon and Blazin Britches
brought out one solid performance after another from those talented horses,
with their biggest cheerleader – owner Bruce Trogdon of Emerald Highlands Farm
– usually present to share in the glory. Trogdon was also the breeder of Blazin
Britches, and he bought the dam of Fear The Dragon with him in utero
(already carrying the embryo), so Trogdon has been there from the literal very
beginning of their lives through their two seasons of racing, including the
successes of 2017. Thus the former newspaperman celebrated the 25th year of existence of his Emerald Highlands operation in
the most successful way imaginable, capped by his winning the Owner of the Year
award. Trogdon’s former “small operation,” Emerald Highlands, now has 37
broodmares, and likely a future champion or two maturing as they traverse the
farm’s mid-Ohio fields.
Brian Brown, as both Trainer of the Year and the Good Guy Award
winner, and owner Bruce Trogdon’s Emerald Highlands Farm, will be honored at
the upcoming Dan Patch Awards Banquet, to be held on Sunday, February 25 at the
Rosen Shingle Creek Resort in Orlando FL. Those wishing to take out a
congratulatory ad in the Banquet’s Awards Journal should contact Kim Rinker,
Journal Committee chair, at trotrink@aol.com.
Those wishing to attend the banquet can make room reservations online via a
special “portal” on the USHWA website – but do so quickly to take advantage of
the special room rates USHWA has obtained. Tickets for the banquet, priced at
$175, can be obtained through Judy Davis-Wilson, Dinner Planning Committee
chair, at zoe8874@aol.com.
