by Dean A. Hoffman

Last week on the USTA home page we ran a series of articles listing the major contenders for the Dan Patch Awards to be given at the annual U.S. Harness Writers Assn. banquet in late February.

In writing those pieces, I tried to focus on what I thought were the leading contenders in each division. The surest way to pick out the leaders in a division is to look at the overall money earnings. That’s not the only way, mind you, but money is what makes the mare — and stallion and gelding — go, so it’s a good place to start.

That’s not to say, of course, that a horse that raced a few times and didn’t make it to the top rungs of the money ranks should be overlooked.

Not surprisingly, I got some e-mails asking “How could you possibly have overlooked [such-and-such horse]? I really think that he [she] deserves mention as much as any other horse in this division.”

Sometimes the complaints are voiced in much stronger terms, but the message is clear: Not everyone agrees with my concept of division leaders. That’s fair enough. Not everyone agrees with my choices at the polls on election day, either.

So here is your chance to voice your opinion. What 2-year-old male should be the champion of his class? You can make a good case for several. What about the fillies? I say Isabella Blue Chip all the way, but I’m sure others feel differently.

I thought Pampered Princess was another Passionate Glide when I saw her, but her form tailed off late in the season, and thus the freshman trotting filly division will be interesting.

We just read that Majestic Son was named the Woodbine Entertainment Group Horse of the Year, outpolling Glidemaster and other top horses that performed at the WEG tracks. I don’t think he’s likely to win a Dan Patch Award, but I also don’t think Glidemaster will sweep all the Dan Patch Award votes.

Honors for top pacer will be interesting as Total Truth has the most money, but Lis Mara is likely to have more than a million in the bank when the dust settles. He was second to Holborn Hanover in the $203,000 American-National at Balmoral, but he stands to gain the winner’s share of the purse if the appeal of Holborn Hanover’s positive test is denied. That extra money would push Lisa Mara past the $1 million mark for 2006.

That still wouldn’t allow him to match the bank account that Total Truth compiled in the rich sophomore stakes this season. He was less than $6,000 from the $1.5 million mark on the season in his 19 starts.

Enough of my thoughts and opinions. Tell me who you think should be Pacer of the Year. Maybe it’s a horse that hasn’t been mentioned. What about Trotter of the Year? And Horse of the Year?

CLICK HERE to send us your thoughts and opinions.

We’ll publish selected responses as part of next week’s blog entry.