Harrisburg, PA – Weaver-Bruscemi/Burke – the amalgam of Weaver-Bruscemi LLC (Mark Weaver and Mike Bruscemi) and Burke Racing Stable LLC (Weaver-Bruscemi along with the Burke family matriarch Sylvia) – did well in Dan Patch Awards announced earlier in the week by the United States Harness Writers Association (USHWA), and now they have established a breeding operation, largely of former racehorse stars, which has risen enough to be honored with Dan Patch Breeders Awards.
Weaver-Bruscemi/Burke itself bred the winners of $6,555,777 in 2025, ranking fifth among all breeders with only 74 starters – quite a rapid growth – and as usual, often combining with partners such as Phil Collura, Lawrence Karr, and J&T Silva- Purnel & Libby, they appear on the breeding records of such stars as Louprint, Loua Dipa, Al Papi, Looksgoodinloulou, and Melillo. This racetrack success earned Weaver-Bruscemi/Burke the Dan Patch Breeder of the Year Award.
Three of the five horses mentioned above have the word “Lou” in their name, which gives a fairly good indication why Sweet Lou was voted Pacing Sire of the Year in 2025, after dead-heating with Bettor’s Delight for the honor last year and winning outright at his gait in the inaugural 2023 awards. A son of Yankee Cruiser out of Sweet Future bred by Birnam Wood Farms, Sweet Lou was purchased by Burke/Weaver-Bruscemi, Collura, and Karr, was a champion racehorse earning nearly $3.5 million, and now is under the stewardship of the Sweet Lou Syndicate. Sweet Lou is a “dual-hemisphere” stallion, standing “Stateside” at Diamond Creek Farm in Pennsylvania and also going to New Zealand for duty at Woodlands Stud.
In 2025 at press time, Sweet Lou led all stallions on the all-age money winning list with almost $18.4 million. He was also second on the 2YO list and fourth in the 3YO rankings. Louprint and Loua Dipa, as mentioned, are offspring of his who are favored to win their division’s Dan Patch Awards (to be announced Sunday at approximately noon on the Harrah’s Philadelphia simulcast, with releases e-mailed out right afterward.)
Chapter Seven also repeated his 2024 Trotting Sire of the Year success. A son of Windsong’s Legacy – La Riviera Lindy bred by Richard Banca, he was originally purchased by Gary Cocco and Richard Gutnick, who joined with Southwind Farms and J&T Silva Stables as owners until he was syndicated for stud under Chapter Seven Syndicate. He now stands at Blue Chip Farms.
For the second straight year Chapter Seven posted a “clean sweep” of the major money titles for trotting sires, with his all-age earnings at $14.2 million tops and also leading the 2YO ($4.5M) and 3YO ($6.6M) ranks. His sophomore Super Chapter won $1,236,099 and the Yonkers Trot, Beal, and Empire Breeders Classic, and his 2YO Spencer Hanover was successful in both his Breeders Crown elimination and Championship.
The Pacing Broodmare of the Year, Looksgoodinaromper, is another success for the Burke/Weaver-Bruscemi crew. A daughter of Pet Rock – Don’t Blame Me bred by Robert and Barbara Bongiorno, B/W-B acquired her early in her 2-year-old season and for them won her $300,000 Ohio Sire Stakes Championship that year.
2025 saw two female offspring of Looksgoodinaromper perform strongly to help her earn the title: divisional championship contender Loua Dipa ($827,028) and Kentucky program Champion Looksgoodinloulou ($381,262 – ’25). No extra points for guessing who their sire was.
The Trotting Broodmare of the Year, Mission Brief, is a daughter of Muscle Hill – Southwind Serena. She was bred by Steve Stewart, Black Creek Farm, and Andrea Lea Racing Stables Inc., and was purchased before her broodmare career by Mission Brief Syndicate, of which Stewart is corresponding officer. In her racing career, Mission Brief showed tremendous speed and courage while earning $1,599,587. (And yes, she was campaigned by the Burke Brigade in her two years of racing.)
In 2025 Mission Brief gave us Apex (Walner), a highly-regarded freshman colt who earned $871,798, won the Mohawk Million, and is the early line favorite for his own Dan Patch Award. Two other stakes winners out of Mission Brief were Kadena (who sold for $1.2 million last month) and Vic Zelenskyy.
The award winners listed above will 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 the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort in Orlando, FL.
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; 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.
For the complete USHWA voting totals for all Dan Patch non-racehorse categories, click here.
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.