Schenectady, NY–The New York Sire Stakes has released annual Breeders Awards for the 2021 racing season. Payment packages will be mailed to the recipients next week. The full list of awards can be found at the New York Sire Stakes website.

The Breeders Awards program provides rewards for each level of New York Sire Stakes racing: Sire Stakes, Excelsior Series and County Fairs. The awards are residency based, rewarding breeders who keep their mares in New York State for at least 180 days during the year of conception, thereby contributing to the agricultural economy. The program is designed to stimulate New York State’s agriculture sector and support New York farms.

A total of 287 New York-bred horses and 118 entities earned awards this year, totaling $750,000. Of those awardees, 17 earned more than $10,000. Two-year-olds returned 17.7 percent of their earnings to breeders and 3-year-olds returned 19 percent.

The single largest earner was Splash Blue Chip, a winner of four legs of the New York Sire Stakes and bred by Blue Chip Bloodstock. Splash Blue Chip earned $196,855 in NY-bred purses, for a $37,722 Breeders Award.

Crawford Farms, earning awards as Crawford Farms LLC and Crawford Farms Racing, received the largest sum in awards totaling $102,677 for 29 offspring. Winbak Farm, the perennial leading breeder across all tiers of the New York Sire Stakes program, received $78,697 in awards from 21 offspring.

“Congratulations to all of those receiving breeders award and thank you for maintaining your commitment to New York,” said M. Kelly Young, executive director, Agriculture and New York State Horse Breeding Development Fund. “Come next year, we fully anticipate the Breeders Awards will return to $1 million and that purses will return to pre-pandemic levels.”

The New York Sire Stakes is the state’s premier harness racing program for 2- and 3-year-old Standardbreds designed to stimulate the breeding, buying and racing of Standardbred horses in New York State. It is the nation’s oldest harness racing program of its kind has served as a model for state-bred racing programs.