Canada’s harness racing champions will be honoured at the 2011 O’Brien Awards Black Tie Gala on Saturday, January 28, 2012 at the Delta Meadowvale Hotel in Mississauga

, Ontario.

The festivities kick off at 6:00 p.m. in the Graydon Hall Foyer with the cocktail reception. At 7:00 p.m. the Race Day documentary, produced by Iron Horse Photo will be premiered in the Graydon Hall Ballroom, which will be decked out in a Mardi Gras theme. Then it’s on to the four-course dinner prepared by award winning chef, Andrew Nelson.

The award presentations will follow dinner at approximately 9:00 p.m, and for those who can’t attend in person, you can follow along via live videostream on standardbredcanada.ca starting shortly after 9 p.m., courtesy of Woodbine Entertainment Group.

Shannon Doyle and Ken Middleton will host the award presentations as the coveted bronze O’Brien busts are handed out to the winners in 17 categories along with three unique trophies for the Media Excellence Awards.

For the third year in a row, Trot Magazine's Associate Editor Kim Fisher and SC Web Director Jeff Porchak will provide live news and commentary on all the happenings from the Delta Meadowvale Hotel and Convention Centre throughout the night. Joining the commentary crew for the 2011 Awards are Western Fair's Greg Blanchard, Grand River Raceway's Kelly Spencer and O'Brien Award Nominee Scott Zeron. Winners will be announced as they happen.

Following dinner, guests will be able to dance the night away to the music of Sound Parade.

Standardbred Canada will have a photo gallery of all of the presentation shots online on Monday, January 30 and the vote tallies for all categories will be released on Tuesday, January 31.