Schenectady, NY — The New York Sire Stakes has released annual Breeders Awards for the 2020 racing season. Payment packages will be mailed to the recipients this week. The full list of awards can be found at the New York Sire Stakes website.

The Breeders Awards program provides rewards for each level of New York Sire Stakes racing — Sire Stakes, Excelsior Series and County Fairs. The awards are residency based, rewarding breeders who keep their mares in New York State for at least 180 days during the year of conception, thereby contributing to the agricultural economy. The program is designed to stimulate New York State’s agriculture sector and support New York farms.

A total of 308 New York-bred horses and 130 entities earned awards this year, totaling $500,000. Of those awardees, 10 earned more than $10,000. Two-year-olds returned nearly 13 percent of their earnings to breeders and 3-year-olds returned 11 percent.

The single largest earner was last year’s New York Sire Stakes champion Hobbs, a homebred who earned $234,090 in New York-bred purses and rewards breeder Runthetable Stables with a $26,795.24 check.

Blue Chip Farms, earning awards as Blue Chip Bloodstock and Blue Chip Farms LLC, received the largest sum in awards totaling $58,364.43 for 33 offspring. Winbak Farm, the perennial leading breeder across all tiers of the New York Sire Stakes program, received $56,013.07 in awards from 31 offspring.

“Breeders are the foundation of the harness racing industry. We are proud to support the investment they make right here in the Empire State,” said M. Kelly Young, executive director, Agriculture and New York State Horse Breeding Development Fund. “We are coming out of a difficult period in our history and we appreciate the breeders maintaining their commitment to New York as our revenues were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We fully anticipate the Breeders Awards will return to $1 million in 2022 and that purses will return to pre-pandemic levels.”

The New York Sire Stakes is the state’s premier harness racing program for 2- and 3-year-old Standardbreds designed to stimulate the breeding, buying and racing of Standardbred horses in New York State. It is the nation’s oldest harness racing program of its kind and has served as a model for state-bred racing programs.