Harrisburg, PA – The “Burke Brigade” had major contenders in many of the racehorse divisional battles this year, and trainer Ron Burke set an all-time one-year record of more than $30 million for conditioners. They were honored by the United States Harness Writers Association’s in the year-end Dan Patch awards voting – Burke as trainer, and the partnership of Weaver Bruscemi LLC (Mark Weaver and Mike Bruscemi) and Burke Racing Stable LLC (Weaver Bruscemi LLC in combination of Burke family matriarch Sylvia) as Owners of the Year.
Jason Bartlett, having posted career highs in several major categories and No. 1 in terms of purse earnings with $16.3 million in 2025, was voted the Driver of the Year in the polling.
Burke/Weaver Bruscemi won its fourth Owner award: the combine was voted tops in 2013 and 2018, and they then repeated last year’s success with another triumph this year. “B/WB” was the individual leader in the owners’ earnings derby, their horses having earned more than $6 million million and headed by 2-year-old pacing filly Loua Dipa, who is the favorite to be crowned champion of her division in this coming Sunday’s announcement of the leading racehorses (to be simulcast live on the Harrah’s Philadelphia signal live at approximately noon, with the press releases to follow at the end of the show). The Brigade’s overnight warriors contributed the bulk of that money, with 13 horses six-figure-earners during the campaign.
Burke/Weaver Bruscemi has always been noted for introducing partners to the top Grand Circuit levels of harness racing, and indeed three of the four top money-earners including partnerships behind them are frequently in the owners’ ranks teaming with a B/WB horse: Knox Services Inc., Phillip Collura, and Lawrence Karr. Louprint and Lexus Kody, giants on the racetrack scene in 2025 and favorites in the Dan Patch divisional battles, are included in the partnerships.
Ron Burke is the “general” who keeps the operation running with the Brigade’s several “battalions” at racetracks, plus their “Grand Circuit” battalion, with incredible breadth of oversight and knowledge of his far-flung empire. He is also winning his fourth award in the training category: he had been the writers’ choice in 2011, 2013, and 2018 as well, and his father, Mickey Sr., won the award in 2006.
Again, the raceway horses often dominate at their own particular venues. Nearing press time late in the season, Burke was the leading trainer at Dayton, The Meadowlands, The Meadows (his home base) and Pocono Downs, and was in the top five at four others.
The “Grand Circuit battalion” of the Burke Brigade was truly a “Murderers’ Row” of talent. It includes two 2025 millionaires: Lexus Kody, top money winning horse overall at $1,371,651, and Louprint ($1,025,971), along with a pair of $750,000-plus winners, Loua Dipa and Sippinonsearoc. As noted, some of these stars will almost certainly grab additional glory with the further announcements of the Dan Patch Awards winners.
Jason Bartlett grew up in the harness game, with his family in Maine, won USHWA’s Rising Star Award in 2008, and has settled in the very top leagues of harness racing, with a long string of driving titles at MGM Yonkers Raceway, the track with the biggest purses in North America.
Bartlett progressed his career to the next level in 2025: going “out on the road” more and driving several stakes competitors; Bartlett saw the horses he drove earn $16.3 million to lead all North American drivers. He is also second in the dash standings (at his current pace he’ll go over the 800 mark), and his UDR of .454 also ranks number two among all North American competitors. It takes a special horseman to win the UDR titles at Yonkers Raceway and The Meadowlands, but Bartlett did it and was crowned in this category at Pocono as well.
Bartlett won the first two Breeders Crowns of his career this season, with Spencer Hanover and French Wine, and he was the regular driver of Dandy Ideal, who raced in the sport’s “glamour division” (3-year-old pacing males) and earned over $900,000 in doing so. Bartlett posted at least three victories in the New York Sire Stakes Championships, the Big Apple Stakes, and the Matron Stakes. He has ascended to the top echelon of drivers to the degree that in 2025 he won 70 six-figure races (total purse).
The Burkes, Weaver, Bruscemi, and Bartlett will all be recognized at the 2026 Dan Patch Awards Banquet, presented by Caesars Entertainment, which will honor the best of the best of harness racing, both human and equine. The Banquet will be held on Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, at Rosen Shingle Creek resort in Orlando, Fla. Sponsorship information for the Banquet can be obtained from Shawn Wiles at swiles@rwcatskills.com; advertising in the souvenir Journal can be arranged through Kim Rinker at trotrink@aol.com; and tickets through Judy Davis-Wilson, zoe8874@aol.com. For room reservations, click on this hotel link. More information about the Banquet and associated USHWA meetings that weekend will soon be available at www.usharnesswriters.com.
The United States Harness Writers Association is the leading group of communicators covering the Standardbred horse. USHWA conducts the official annual balloting for the sport’s most prestigious honors: induction to the Hall of Fame and Communicators Hall of Fame, along with the selection of the Horse of the Year, Trotter and Pacer of the Year, and the leading divisional horses of each season. Each year USHWA hosts the Dan Patch Awards Banquet, honoring the best and brightest performers in North American harness racing. This banquet is the Association’s principal source of funding, and with generous financial support from the harness racing and breeding industry, USHWA is able to host the banquet at a world-class facility in a world-class manner.