And the winner of the E. Roland Harriman Award as the 2017 Horse of the Year is…

At approximately 10 p.m. on Sunday, February 25, emcees Roger Huston and Jason Settlemoir will fill in the blank at the annual U.S. Harness Writers Association’s Dan Patch Awards banquet at Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando, Fla.

If you aren’t among the attendees at the dinner you can still watch the big announcement – as well as that of Trotter of the Year and Pacer of the Year – as the entire awards ceremony, sponsored by Weaver Bruscemi LLC and Ron Burke, will be broadcast live on USHWA’s Facebook page, which can be accessed here. The entire video will also be available on the U.S. Trotting Association’s YouTube page the following day (Monday, February 26).

Dinner tickets must be ordered by Tuesday, February 20, by contacting Judy Wilson via email at [email protected] or by phone at 302-359-3630. You can also order the $175 dinner tickets on the USHWA website at ushwa.net. Dinner selections must be made at the time of ordering, with the choices either filet mignon, Caribbean spiced grouper or a vegetable plate. All meals are prepared gluten-free.

Post time for the evening is 6 p.m. with a one-hour cocktail reception sponsored by the Downbytheseaside Syndicate getting things underway. A special guest will be Ric ‘The Nature Boy’ Flair, considered by many to be the greatest professional wrestler of all-time. Flair is attending the Dan Patch Awards dinner as a guest of one of the honourees and will also be meeting and greeting attendees on the Dan Patch Red Carpet, sponsored by Hoosier Park.

Also starring on USHWA’s version of the Red Carpet will be Heather Vitale and Heather Wilder, with the two Heathers broadcasting live on their individual Facebook pages. It’s your guarantee to see who’s wearing what and what the attendees have to say about the festivities.

Heather Vitale's Facebook page can be found here. Heather Wilder’s Facebook page can be found at here.

Rooms at Rosen Shingle Creek are nearly sold out, so if you plan to attend and still need to book, you can access USHWA’s special portal by going to ushwa.net.

(USHWA)