Tonight is the night! The 29th edition of the O’Brien Awards, celebrating and honouring the best in Canadian harness racing, takes place this evening, Saturday, February 3 at the Hilton Mississauga / Meadowvale Hotel in Mississauga, Ontario.

If you are attending, just a reminder that the red carpet show and cocktail reception kicks the evening off at 5:30 p.m. Dinner will be at 6:45 p.m. and the award presentations will start at about 9:00 p.m. A dance will round the evening off.

The O’Briens will be video streamed live on standardbredcanada.ca starting at approximately 9:00 p.m. (EST), Live updates will be posted from @trotinsider on Twitter and on the Standardbred Canada Facebook page. The hashtag for the O’Briens is #obriens17.

The Standardbred Canada Industry Communications team will provide live news and commentary on all the happenings from the Hilton Mississauga / Meadowvale Hotel throughout the night. Winners will be announced through the live twitter feed below as they happen.

The who’s who of the harness racing will be on hand to receive their coveted O’Brien bronzes. The awards are named in honour of the late Joe O’Brien, a trainer-driver from Prince Edward Island who was highly regarded and a member of the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.

Eighteen O'Brien Awards will be given out for the 2017 harness racing season. Thirteen of these honour the premier horses over the past racing season including the most coveted trophy, Canada's Horse of the Year. The horse awards are divided by age, sex and gait. There are two finalists in all of the categories.

In addition there are five people awards, one each for Driver of the Year, Trainer of the Year, Armstrong Bros. Farm Breeder of the Year, the O'Brien Award of Horsemanship, and Future Star. In addition, three Media Excellence Awards and an award for Outstanding Groom will be doled out.

Standardbred Canada extends their congratulations to all of the evening’s finalists!