In the fourth annual edition of The HRU Awards, our contributors make their picks for the very best of the year in eight categories.

Harness Racing Update is proud to present the fourth edition of The HRU Awards. We asked our contributors to give their picks for the best of 2024 in eight categories. Keep in mind, we purposely left the interpretation for each category up to the contributors. Some chose to think nationally or globally, some chose to think more regionally, focusing on the area they cover or to which they are most familiar. Contributors that felt they could not provide an educated opinion for a question left it blank.

1. HORSE OF THE YEAR

Murray Brown: Twin B Joe Fresh. Should be unanimous. She stood out from beginning to end.

Thomas Hedlund: This category is unusually tough this year. I must admit that I haven’t followed the races in America as much as I used to, so I have to go for a European horse. And now it all became clear, Horsy Dream of course. The French trotter pulverized some of the best horses in the world when he claimed the Elitloppet at Solvalla in May, and when it was time for the $1,200,000 Åby World Grand Prix in August, Horsy Dream came back to Sweden and transformed an expected exciting race, to a walk in the park, driven by his trainer Pierre Belloche.

Gordon Waterstone: Twin B Joe Fresh. Simply sensational from start to finish; this was a no-brainer vote for HOY.

Adam Hamilton: Just Believe. Australia has never seen a year like it. In any normal year, Just Believe, Leap To Fame or Keayang Zahara would be a lock. But all three will battle it out when the votes are cast in coming weeks. I’ve gone Just Believe because four of his biggest wins came from just six starts when he left Australia and raced in New Zealand. As great as Leap To Fame was with 15 wins from just 16 starts, illness robbed him of a trip to NZ.

Bob Heyden: Twin B Joe Fresh. For the first time in 26 years, we’re looking at the overwhelming favorite to go back-to-back as the sports standout performer. Moni Maker did it in 1998-99. Both built for the part.

Melissa Keith: Southwind Amazon, for becoming the winningest horse in modern harness racing (139 career wins, the most recent at Northfield Park on Dec. 17). He also generated recent debate about what an owner and the sport owe an accomplished 14-year-old gelding on the brink of mandatory retirement.

Jay Wolf: Twin B Joe Fresh by open lengths.

Neil Milbert: Jiggy Jog S. Sadly, she was overtaken by injuries after winning all six of her races. She defeated male opponents with regularity and conquered representatives of five countries in winning the $1 million 1¼-mile MGM Yonkers International Trot.

Ray Cotolo: On achievement, Twin B Joe Fresh is clearly the horse of 2024. One of the ironies to a mare like her is the races where she competed often never carried gravity, which to me is a testament to just how never-in-doubt she seemed as a winner if entered.

Debbie Little: Twin B Joe Fresh. After being runner-up in the voting three times before, Chris Ryder will finally get his Horse of the Year and it’s more special because he’s part owner. Honorable mention to the incomparable Jiggy Jog S. If she didn’t need to retire after only six starts, the race for HOY might have come down to the wire.

Dave Briggs: Twin B Joe Fresh.

2. PERSON(S) THAT MADE THE BIGGEST CONTRIBUTION TO HARNESS RACING IN 2024

Bob Heyden: I took this literally, so it’s Bruce Areman and William Pollock. It started with Andrew Harris and Abuckabett Hanover and snowballed in 2024. Maybe the most extreme example in harness racing history of putting your money where your mouth is.

Neil Milbert: Rather than citing an individual, I am casting my vote for the members of the Illinois Harness Horsemen’s Association, the standardbred owners and breeders in the state and the black trainers and drivers who come from Mississippi every summer to form the backbone of the county fair circuit that is the second biggest in the U.S. In the face of tremendous adversity, they are keeping racing alive in Illinois where Chicago racing has shrunken to a four-month winter meeting.

Melissa Keith: Small bettors and small owners.

Adam Hamilton: Kevin Seymour. The Queenslander again delivered in so many ways. Whether it be the way he’s shared his champion pacer Leap To Fame with the people, his enormous sponsorship of the sport, the way he’s rallied to help protect the future of South Australian harness racing or his continued investment in the game as an owner and breeder.

Thomas Hedlund: All owners and breeders that continue to make sure that horses enter the tracks, worldwide.

Dave Briggs: Bruce Areman, William Pollock and Andrew Harris, with honorable mention to Greg Luther. Like Bob Heyden, I took this one literally.

3. TRAINER OF THE YEAR

Melissa Keith: I was surprised that Chris Ryder didn’t make the Dan Patch Trainer of the Year ballot despite training Dan Patch/Breeders Crown champs Twin B Joe Fresh and Miki And Minnie. He was also elected to the Goshen Hall of Fame this year.

Ray Cotolo: I am always impressed with the Team Svanstedt outfit. Year in and year out, they come into the top classes and always excel while maintaining an exclusively stakes-season schedule.

Murray Brown: Noel Daley. Not a very large stable which stood out in terms of quality.

Adam Hamilton: Really hard to pin one down, but I’ll go with Grant Dixon, the man behind Leap To Fame. Despite all the travel and work the champ, Dixon has topped the Australian training premiership again with 25 wins more than his nearest rival. Special mentions to the powerhouse Victorian team of Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin, the emerging force that is Jess Tubbs and Queensland’s Chantal Turpin for a breakthrough season.

Bob Heyden: Chris Ryder. Not only did he have both the 2YOFP and OMP (and presumptive HOY) of 2024, he saw/believed in something nobody else did, Roll With Joe. The sire of Twin B Joe Fresh and the broodmare sire of Miki And Minnie. Nowhere else on the Breeders Crown program or year-end listing will you see his name.

Neil Milbert: Noel Daly. With Captain Albano and Sig Sauer in the forefront, Daley’s stable continued to stay in the limelight in 2024.

Jay Wolf: Ron Burke. I know Ron did not win nationally, but I am thinking locally (Ohio). Burke trained four of the eight divisional champs in the Buckeye state.

Thomas Hedlund: Thierry Duvaldestin, Pierre Belloche, Daniel Wäjersten, Daniel Redén, Ron Burke, Åke Svanstedt. These are the names worth mentioning and my vote goes to Mr. Svanstedt.

Gordon Waterstone: Noel Daley. Most deserving after a career-best year in earnings approaching $5 million, bolstered by his two Dan Patch division champs Captain Albano and Sig Sauer.

Dave Briggs: Noel Daley.

4. DRIVER OF THE YEAR

Jay Wolf: Dexter Dunn (nationally) and Jeremy Smith (regionally). Smith won the Miami Valley Gaming meet title and was near the top of the Eldorado Scioto Downs standings until two racing accidents sidelined him for much of the year.

Melissa Keith: On the track and off, James MacDonald was a class act, making the 2024 Dan Patch ballot for both the Driver of the Year and Good Guy Award.

Neil Milbert: Dexter Dunn. The victory by Jiggy Jog S in the Yonkers International highlighted another stellar year for the New Zealand transplant.

Thomas Hedlund: Magnus A. Djuse. There are no measuring instruments existing that can prove me right or wrong, but the kid is just a phenomenal driver, a young driver and I can’t remember seeing any other reinsman as good as Magnus A. Djuse, ever.

Bob Heyden: Dexter Dunn for No. 5. He just posted the most efficient season ever and he’s 35. Where oh where are we going from here?

Gordon Waterstone: Dexter Dunn. He was the driver of eight, EIGHT, Dan Patch divisional champions. Right now, it’s Dexter’s world and we are all honored to be in it.

Adam Hamilton: Has to be the 24-year-old Victorian James Herbertson. He’ll win the national premiership by about 100 wins, which is astonishing. And “Herbie” has also been a regular player in big races for the first time this season, winning his first two pacing Group 1’s. Special mentions to the ever-reliable Queenslanders Nathan Dawson and Pete McMullen, along with WA’s Deni Roberts, who has gone to a new level. Remember Jett Turnbull, too. He’s still not old enough to drive a car, but is 11th on the national title and seriously going places.

Ray Cotolo: Dexter Dunn returned from a slump in 2023 to put forth one of the most impressive driving seasons of recent memory. While he does get good horses to drive, he has an unrivaled tactical instinct both in the horses he chooses to drive and how he places them in races.

Murray Brown: Dexter Dunn. If it were only driving eight of 12 Breeders Crown winners that would be enough. But there was more, much more.

Dave Briggs: Dexter Dunn. Honorable mention to James MacDonald for another outstanding year in Canada and for winning his first two Breeders Crowns.

5. OWNER(S) OF THE YEAR

Neil Milbert: Patricia Stable. Even though the stable numbers only 14 horses, two of them earned Dan Patch Awards.

Gordon Waterstone: Burke Racing/Weaver Bruscemi LLC. What was impressive about this pairing is not only did it produce nearly 400 winners with more than $5.6 million in earnings, but a lot of their success came with homebreds so you could also add Breeder of the Year.

Ray Cotolo: Bill Pollock and Bruce Areman are the exact kind of guys you want in this business. The amount of money they’ve poured into the dream of owning champions is commendable and makes rooting for their success a pleasure.

Adam Hamilton: For this audience, we’ll give it to Mike “Aardie” Tenev. The success the Canadian has had with the likes of Aardies Express, Aardiebytheseaside and Aardie B Miki has been extraordinary.

Murray Brown: The group including Harvey Fried which owns the top Daley horses [Captain Albano and Sig Sauer].

Thomas Hedlund: Karin Walter-Mommert, the German woman who obviously loves harness racing… and her horses. The 305 trotters, scattered with 15 different trainers only in Sweden, proves that Walter-Mommert is an important owner in the sport. One hundred eighty-nine of her horses are 3 years or younger, so the future looks interesting for the German horsewoman.

Bob Heyden: Burke Racing/Weaver Bruscemi. With a nod towards Mickey Burke who passed in 2024 and got this whole program started. They’re 16 years into a collective dominance the sport never previously witnessed.

Melissa Keith: The connections of Hugh Heff, North America’s winningest horse of 2024: owners Randy Getto, Susan McSween and Wayne Hardy, as well as trainer Dana Getto, all of Cape Breton, NS.

Dave Briggs: George Millar. Few people invest more. His absolute concern for the welfare of his horses is admirable.

6. RISING STAR (HUMAN)

Thomas Hedlund: I will mention two names. First a female trainer in Sweden called Maria Törnqvist. If I recall correctly, Maria worked some years in Åke Svanstedt’s stable before he moved to America and she has made an extraordinary journey as a trainer in 2024. A fresh addition to an already strong army of talented trainers in Scandinavia. And then I might be late on this one, but I say Hunter Myers. He reached 1,000 wins in 2021, 2,000 last year and as I can tell, the progression is significant and he will most likely win over 600 races in 2025. I predict 708 wins this year. Keep that in mind.

Jay Wolf: Frank Fraas, the new Ohio Harness Horseman’s Association executive director. He is what this sport needs, a person from ‘outside’ the industry with a marketing background.

Murray Brown: Brett Beckwith. A model of all the good things one looks for in a young person. A great combination of work ethic and talent.

Melissa Keith: Trainer/driver Damian MacLellan.

Bob Heyden: Brett Beckwith. Exemplary. I ask you, who sets examples for others at 21? He’s as good at this age as anyone ever.

Adam Hamilton: As mentioned earlier, 17-year-old Bathurst driver Jett Turnbull could be anything. He’s from one of Australia’s most famous harness families and oozes talent.

Ray Cotolo: Cheyenne Christman has a bright future in racing if the sport can keep her. She’s driven to do good work and is a receptive learner; basically, all of the necessary tools needed to make special things.

Neil Milbert: Brett Beckwith. Beckwith, who is in his early 20s, has given every indication that he will be one of the sport’s most successful drivers for many, many years to come.

Dave Briggs: Brett Beckwith.

7. RACE OF THE YEAR

Adam Hamilton: The Sydney Inter Dominion final at Menangle on Dec. 14. To see Don Hugo and Minstrel go at it from the 700 meters, with so many different moments you felt one had the other beaten, was something else. Don Hugo prevailed, but Minstrel made the race and they smashed the track record by a full second.

Melissa Keith: Msfrannie and Marie-Claude Auger upsetting at 36-1 at Rideau Carleton on Sept. 5, the last win for owner/trainer Sam Sergi, who passed away Oct. 29. His other horse in the race, Hatikvah, finished second at 11-1.

Bob Heyden: The Yonkers International Trot won by Jiggy Jog S. No one from any country was fouling this up. Her thorough and complete domination with ‘Here I come, everybody out of the way’ authority brought back cherished memories of Fresh Yankee, Delmonica Hanover, and Une De Mai.

Thomas Hedlund: Two races. Elitloppet final and Sundsvall Open Trot. Horsy Dream, as earlier mentioned, raced at another level that day at Solvalla and the same must be said about Francesco Zet in late August in Sundsvall. Francesco Zet’s first over world record-slam over 2,140 meters was just something we rarely see.

Murray Brown: The Hambletonian. The visual picture of those horses and drivers competing in a virtual hurricane will last forever.

Jay Wolf: Louprint winning the Breeders Crown freshman colt pace. Left from post 9, was wide into the first turn and was the best in a three-horse photo at the wire.

Ray Cotolo: I don’t know when we’ll ever see a race like this year’s Kentucky Futurity again. Not only was it one of the greatest trotting races of record, but Sig Sauer’s performance to win in that race likely will not be matched for many years.

Gordon Waterstone: Karl winning the Hambletonian in a driving rainstorm, allowing Yannick Gingras to let loose all of his emotions after finally capturing the trotting classic and soaking, pun intended, it all in with his family.

Debbie Little: The Gold Cup and Saucer for what happened during the race and after. Thank you Jordan Stratton.

8. WHAT CONCERNS YOU THE MOST ABOUT THE FUTURE OF THE SPORT OR GIVES YOU THE GREATEST OPTIMISM?

Ray Cotolo: I am unsure of how the sport will fare if people are priced out in these betting pools with takeouts effectively higher as a result of CAWs. We already have to do better about giving new people reasons to care about this sport and one way inside of the hypercompetitive attention economy can be to lower takeout, which would increase returns and potentially churn while giving people a better chance to see why this is, at its heart, the greatest gambling product the world has ever known.

Murray Brown: Fewer and fewer people coming to the races, even the most important ones, especially younger folk. We have no breeding ground for youth.

Adam Hamilton: Concern: It’s a tad boring, but so important. Aussie harness is driven by wagering and it continues to trend down on harness racing. Unless we can arrest that, sustaining prize money will and thus keeping the game mainstream and attractive will be impossible.

Optimism: The sheer talent, both equine and human, in the game. It’s as exciting as it has ever been. The single most exciting aspect is unbeaten 3-year-old trotting filly Keayang Zahara (14 wins, seven at Group 1). She is world class and, if she stays sound and keeps progressing, she will take on the world, maybe in an Elitloppet or Yonkers International.

Bob Heyden: Biggest concern is the continued disdain the sport shows to its existing customers; “We don’t have to do anything for them, they’re coming back regardless.”

Optimism would be with the talented young crop of drivers under 30 out there. A far cry from two decades ago when veterans more or less completely ruled the roost.

Jay Wolf: Stakes scheduling concerns me the most. We have fewer and fewer horses, so I would hope tracks wouldn’t schedule stakes and sire stakes on top of each other. The exact same thing I said last year.

Next year’s class of sophomore colt pacers — Louprint, Fallout, Sippinonsearoc, Swingtown, Captain Optimistic — gives me optimism.

Neil Milbert: The closing of racetracks. Exhibit A, the iconic Freehold Raceway, and the shrinking of racing opportunities across the country. Although Churchill Downs, Inc. pretends to be the leader in American racing it actually is the most destructive force as attested by its decision to cease racing at world-renowned Arlington International Racecourse and sell the beautiful thoroughbred track with the stipulation that there be no pari-mutuel racing or casino gambling in order to wipe out competition for a nearby casino that it co-owns, a decision that has done irreparable damage to both thoroughbred and harness racing in Illinois.

Melissa Keith: Concerns: The “brain drain” affecting the sport, i.e., losing veteran racetrack personnel with no one capable of taking their place; losing more racetracks.

Thomas Hedlund: I think I said this last year… but I’m truly concerned about the general attitude towards the tools we all need in this business, the horses. There are no excuses when horses are treated badly. I get it, money is a foundation, by several aspects in this sport, but when greed and mercenary play too big of a part in people’s minds, then it’s a risk that our horses have to pay a high price. All issues regarding this subject makes me more than concerned.
Hope? Optimism? Not so much to be honest. The fact that Sweden (my country) will increase the purses (we all hope) is obviously good news, but at the same time, our neighbors in the Nordic European countries try to survive in several respects. France stands strong, but the foundation has begun to shake a little bit even there and when looking at the sport from space, it seems like the U.S. keeps going pretty well with high prices at the sales and good purses in several states.
The greatest optimism nevertheless has to be the sport’s development in Finland for the coming years. Propulsion stands stud in Finland and I won’t be surprised if Finnish trotters will enter the very big stages over the next 4-5 years.

Dave Briggs: Post-time drag is a huge threat to the sport’s sustainability. It is an extremely limited short-term gain precipitating the demise of a sport that needs to develop fans that become participants. In an age when attention spans and even baseball games are shorter than ever, harness racing is going the wrong direction with cards that last 5+ hours. Few people want to stick around that long and it’s also increasing already extremely-long work days for the horsepeople. It’s no way to grow the sport.