Harrisburg, PA — The United States Harness Writers announced the winners of the Breeder of the Year and Top Broodmares of the Year on Friday (Dec. 28).

Named as Breeder of the Year, was the Order By Stable of Stefan Balazsi, which started in Sweden but now is one of the emerging major players on the North American breeding scene. The breeding operation produced only 30 starters “on this side” during 2018, but still ranked twelfth in terms of money won, with Order By’s offspring earning $2.4 million in Canada and the U.S.

The Hambletonian-winning, million-dollar earning sophomore filly Atlanta, her division’s champion, certainly was the cream of the crop of Order By Stable’s produce in 2018. Not too far behind, though, was Gimpanzee, in connection with trainer Marcus Melander, who also was a divisional champion and accounted for almost $600,000 in earnings himself.

The winning broodmares shared producing a three-year-old colt who when at his best delivered blistering speed that left most of his generation behind. Lady Ashlee Ann, a daughter of Camtastic owned by Winbak Farms for more than twenty years, was the dam of pacer Courtly Choice, a son of Art Major who sped to a 1:47.1 record, emerged victorious in the Empire Breeders Classic Final, Meadowlands Pace, and a thrilling Little Brown Jug, and earned over $900,000. Lady Ashlee Ann was declared a “walkover winner” by USHWA’s Breeders / Broodmares Committee, so outstanding did they see the merit of her and her son.

On the trotting side, Southwind Serena, a Varenne mare owned by Steve Stewart, Black Creek Farm, and Andrea Lea Racing Stables Inc., was recognized because of the exploits of trotter Tactical Landing. This Muscle Hill colt, a full brother to the mercurial distaff Mission Brief, had been in the spotlight since his sale for $800,000 as a yearling, second-highest price ever, and for the better part of the next two years looked like a questionable investment. But trainer Jimmy Takter exhibited tremendous developmental patience, and entering the Hambletonian with five races lifetime and $14,000 on his card, the colt showed he “belonged” by winning his elimination and finishing third in the final. This was the igniting of a late-season surge, which then saw him take a mark of 1:50.2 at Lexington, sweep his Breeders Crown races and then defeat older horses handily in the TVG Championship – while winning nearly $800,000 after the first Saturday in August.

Order By Stable, Lady Ashlee Ann, Southwind Serena, and their connections will be honored at USHWA’s annual Dan Patch Awards Banquet, celebrating the best and brightest of harness racing in the past year. The banquet honoring the champions of 2018 will be held on Sunday, February 24, 2019, at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort in Orlando FL, the climax of a weekend that also finds USHWA holding its annual national meetings.

Tickets for the Dan Patch Awards Banquet are $175, with a filet mignon dinner featured; “post times” on February 24 are cocktails at 6 p.m. and dinner at 7 p.m. Tickets, and other Banquet-related information, can be obtained through Dinner Planning Committee Chair Judy Davis-Wilson, at zoe8874@aol.com or 302 359 3630.

Hotel reservations for those attending can be made through USHWA’s website, www.ushwa.org; a link to the hotel’s computer is on the front page of the website. Those who would like to take out congratulatory ads for award winners in the always-popular Dan Patch Awards Journal can do so by contacting Kim Rinker at trotrink@aol.com (the 2018 journal is online at the writers’ website).