Hightstown, NJ – After seeing one of his horses honored with a Dan Patch Award in each of the past two years, trainer Andrew Harris is hoping his stable can build on that success this season as he prepares to kick off his 2026 campaign Friday (Feb. 6) at the Meadowlands.
Harris set a career high for purses last year, with his horses banking $4.01 million in 508 starts. His stable’s average of $7,909 ranked ninth among all trainers in North America and was less than $300 from the top five.
Leading the way was Dan Patch Award-winner Yo Tillie, who last season at age 3 topped all female trotters in earnings, with $979,195. She had 11 wins and a second in 12 races and counted the Grade 1 Breeders Crown and Delmonica Hanover Stakes among her victories for owners Bill Pollock, Bruce Areman, and Harris.
She became Harris’ second Dan Patch Award recipient, following older male pacer Abuckabett Hanover in 2024. “Bucky” also was owned by Pollock, Areman, and Harris.
“We’re hoping to try to make this a trend,” Harris said. “Anytime you get your name called for one of those awards, its phenomenal. It tells you that you’ve done something well, had a good horse to work with, and a good team behind you to support you and get you to that point.
“Now, we have to try to do it again. We’re not resting on our laurels. We’re trying to create more and more top-end horses. Hopefully, this year we can add another one to the list, or maybe a couple more.”
Yo Tillie, who is being pointed toward an April return in the Kentucky Sire Stakes series for 4-year-olds at Oak Grove Racing, was among 10 horses trained by Harris to exceed six figures in purses last year. Others included graded-stakes winners Brandon Blvd, Topville Lucky, Captain Luke, and Heart For Two. All were owned by Pollock, Areman, and Harris.
“It was a good year,” Harris said. “We went to Kentucky and made over a million dollars in purses, which was phenomenal because it’s the best horses in the country. We did very well in Canada, which we went to mainly for Grand Circuit races. When we looked at our Grand Circuit record, we were very happy with it.
“It’s an acknowledgment to the type of horses we’ve got, which is big thanks to Bill and Bruce that we were able to buy them and have some luck with them. We’ve had really good upper-class horses, some that were real standouts. We had some that were disappointments – we experienced both sides of it – but at the end of the year we were all happy. And we have some youngsters coming back this year that we’re looking forward to, that were very nice horses last year.”
Harris will get this season under way Friday at the Meadowlands with a Swedish import he co-owns, but not with Pollock and Areman. Harris shares ownership of Laferraridmanche S, an 8-year-old trotting mare, with Ray Lasky and Nathan Cockerham.
“I’ve had horses with them over the years,” Harris said. “They always seem to buy one or two with me every year and I’ve maintained that. They’re great guys, a joy to have horses with. Hopefully, we can have some luck for them, too.”
Laferraridmanche S will make her North American debut in a $12,500 conditioned event at the Big M, leaving from post one with Brett Beckwith in the sulky. The daughter of Brad De Veluwe-Ladonna Dimanche is the 3-1 morning-line favorite.
She heads into the race with 10 wins in 50 career starts and earnings of $148,975.
“I’m thrilled to have her,” Harris said about the mare, who won a qualifier in 1:55.3 on Jan. 17 at the Meadowlands with Beckwith. “She looked like she had a lot of gate speed, so we’re hoping that she will be a real nice half-mile-track specialist at some point. I think Lasix here is going to be a big help for her. I don’t think she is quite stakes material, but hopefully she is an upper-class-type mare.”
After getting to know Laferraridmanche S, who last raced in September, Harris described the mare as “feisty.”
“She’s actually hard to deal with, but that said, she seems to have a big set of lungs,” the trainer said. “And that may stem from her attitude. She’s very mentally tough.”
Racing begins at 6 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday this weekend at the Meadowlands, 20 minutes earlier than usual. This Friday also kicks off the PK 8, spanning Races 3-10 with $50,000 seeded into the pool. This new wager has a $1 minimum bet, with 75% of the pool carried over each night if there are no 8 out of 8 tickets.
For free TrackMaster past performances for the Big M, click here.