Columbus, MN — Apple Juice (Fancy Schmansy), who earned the award as the 2023 freshman filly champion pacer was also voted as the 2023 Minnesota Harness Racing Horse of the Year at the MHRI annual meeting and awards banquet on Saturday (Feb 17) at Running Aces.

Apple Juice was voted Minnesota’s Horse of the Year on Saturday night. Nicole Tate photo.

Juice garnered the most votes in a very accomplished field of nominees that also included Dougsmonkeybusines, Handsome Harvey, Baby Flash, Deja Vu Babyboo, Give Me This Dance, Bringoverthemoney, Maggie Rhee, Iron Sharpens Iron, and BP’S Lucky Star.

Apple Juice is a homebred for owner/trainer/breeder Scott Banitt and is out of his Computer Scooter mare Computer Art.

She was part of a huge rivalry amongst the top-two fillies in her division, trading wins and frequent head-to-head battles with the division runner up (Deja Vu Babyboo). Apple Juice was able to capture the championship award by dominating the final six weeks of the season and posting five wins in her last seven starts of the year.

On Night of Champions (September 16) she also dominated the $65,000 division final with a sharp gate-to-wire performance in 1:54.3, which was just one-tick slower than her career mark of 1:54.2, which she recorded on August 24.

Apple Juice finished her freshman campaign with an overall total of 8 wins and 4 seconds from 13 starts and total earnings of $103,117, which places her at the top of the all-time seasonal earnings list for two-year-old filly pacers in Minnesota.

Jacob Cutting was the first-call driver for Apple Juice throughout her impressive 2023 campaign.

During the celebration of the award, Scott Banitt shared that “when you have a good one you just know, you can feel it, and we could tell she was a good one right from the start.”

He also shared that she was named by his grandson “we bought the mare (Computer Art) and we called her Apple in reference to Apple computers, so my grandson came up with the name of Apple Juice for the filly.”

His wife Becki also shared that “she is such a special horse and we love her so much, and she has a special bond with our six-year-old granddaughter, they are best friends and seeing them together just warms my heart, she is just an amazing girl.”