Burlington, NJ- Salvatore DiMario has been honored with the Dominic Frinzi Person of the Year Award by Harness Horseman International. Born and raised in metropolitan New York City, DiMario graduated in 1982 with a B.A. in history before garnering his J.D. from Pace University Law School in 1986.

As a teenager, DiMario became endeared with harness racing after visiting Yonkers Raceway for the first time, about six miles from where he grew up. He began working as a groom for his uncle, a Thoroughbred trainer who conditioned 1982 Travers Stakes winner Runaway Groom, but found his finest calling on the front side of the racetrack, serving as a state steward, presiding or associate judge in Kentucky, Illinois, Maine and Massachusetts, and eventually as the general manager at Scarborough Downs. DiMario has served as the executive director of the Delaware Standardbred Owners Association (DSOA) since 1997 and as the HHI secretary for the past two decades. He resides in Dover, DE with his wife Colleen.

The connections of Foiled Again are being honored with the HHI Appreciation Award. The team of Burke Racing, Weaver Bruscemi & JJK Stables put together a “2018 Foiled Again Farewell Tour,” matching him against local horses across North America as the richest-ever ($7,629,018) Standardbred finishes out his 14th year prior to his Jan. 1, 2019 mandatory retirement. The tour included stops at 18 different tracks in ten varied states and provinces and when he raced at Harrah’s on Dec. 9, 2018, he was at the track where he first set hoof, 4,165 days (11 years, four months and 25 days) earlier in his career. Foiled Again’s 331st and final start comes on Monday (Dec. 31) at The Meadows.

Chris Gooden is HHI’s Clyde Hirt Media Award winner. Gooden works as the photographer for The Meadows racetrack, in addition to “regular” jobs his business picks up in his southwestern Pennsylvania area. Gooden also does a great deal of work gratis on behalf of the harness racing community, including Facebook coverage of live racing, “live-from-the-bike” camera photography, and a high profile on Twitter account. When a serious illness struck local horseman several months ago, Gooden posted on Facebook he was selling a photo of Foiled Again at The Meadows and raised more than $1,500 to help cover medical expenses of the beleaguered family.

These three well-deserving HHI award recipients will be feted with their HHI Awards during the annual HHI meetings luncheon on February 25, 2019 at the Embassy Suites Resort and Spa, Deerfield Beach, FL.