With the 2025 O'Brien Awards rapidly approaching, Trot Insider continues to shine the spotlight on this year's finalists for Canadian harness racing's top honours.

In the two-year-old pacing filly division, A Clean Deal, Daya and Windemere Skye comprise the top trio.

A Clean Deal put together a nearly spotless record in 2025, winning six of seven races over the course of her rookie campaign. Trained by Kyle Fellows, the daughter of Cattlewash-Ideal Talker began her career with a 1:54.4 score at Woodbine Mohawk Park before making the jump to Ontario Sires Stakes (OSS) action in start number two. From there, she put the fillies of the division on notice with a 1:50.4 upset that may have even caught her conditioner off guard.

"She was a bit of a surprise," said Fellows. "We didn't have her staked up this year at all besides Sires Stakes, so our expectations for her to start the season weren't sky-high. We were just hoping to have a nice, competitive filly and, obviously, she blew the doors off that.

"We threw her in the Gold because she was so good in her first race and thought we'd take a shot and she might get a cheque. She won it in [1]:50 and it was like, holy crap, that was pretty impressive."

From there, A Clean Deal continued to dazzle, winning four of her last five including taking her mark of 1:50 in an OSS Gold on Aug. 14 at Mohawk with regular pilot Doug McNair in the bike, who drove the filly in each pari-mutuel start aside from her debut. The filly put a bow on her season with a 1:50.2 victory in the $300,000 OSS Gold Super Final on Oct. 10, pushing her seasonal earnings to $454,464 for owners Yolanda Fellows, Blair Corbeil, Windermere Stable and James Ross.

"The Super Final win just helped end the year on a solid note," said Fellows. "She stayed sound, she stayed healthy, she got good trips. Everything just kind of fell into place all year."

Finishing third in the Super Final was fellow O'Brien finalist, Daya. From the first crop of Bulldog Hanover, Daya was bred, owned and trained by Hall of Famer Jack Darling, who conditioned the filly to five wins in 12 starts, hitting the board 10 times. Out of the Somebeachsomewhere mare, Beach Of A Time, Daya banked $485,914 during her freshman season.

"It makes me especially proud for Daya to be nominated with her being a homebred out of a mare I bought as a yearling about 15 years ago," recalled Darling. "And then with her being from the first crop of Bulldog Hanover makes it extra special."

Jody Jamieson had the call in each of her outings as someone who is familiar with the big Bulldog motor that was on full display early in her career, winning the Battle of the Belles at Grand River Raceway in a track and Canadian record of 1:50.4 in just her fourth career start. From there, Daya tacked on wins in the Eternal Camnation as well as her Shes A Great Lady elimination at Mohawk. She went on to finish second in the Shes A Great Lady final behind eventual Dan Patch Award-winning filly, Loua Dipa, before finishing fourth to her in the Breeders Crown final to bring her two-year-old year to a close.

"She went some very tough trips week after week, but the two races that impressed me the most were winning the Battle of the Belles in such dominant fashion and finishing second in the Shes A Great Lady against the best fillies in North America. That's a race I always look forward to," concluded Darling.

As Darling prepares to join his peers at the O'Briens next Saturday, he'll be joined by Earl Watts, who managed the undefeated Windemere Skye and is the third finalist for the division. Taking the Maritimes by storm, nobody got within a length on the wire of the daughter of Somewhere Fancy-Howmac Missy. She was bred by Windemere Farms, which also co-owns the fiery filly with Matt Burke.

"'Skye' has a little sass for sure," said Watts. "She likes to play and is full of spunk. She always has her head out over the door and is watching everything. She's been that way since she was a foal. She has a lot of heart though and enjoys her job."

That attitude was on full display during the undefeated season as the filly appeared to get stronger as the year went on. Winning two Gold divisions of the P.E.I Colt Stakes, a pair of Gold divisions of the Lady Slipper Stakes, four 'A' divisions of the Atlantic Sires Stakes and the Atlantic Sires Stakes Breeders Crown, Windemere Skye ended her perfect season with a victory in the Maritime Breeders Stakes at Charlottetown Driving Park. Her mark of 1:53.3 was also taken at Charlottetown in her penultimate outing in the Atlantic Breeders Crown, establishing a track and Canadian record in the process. She concluded her season with $124,975 in earnings.

"The highlight of the year was when she set three new track records in three weeks," said Watts. "The third one in 1:53.3 tied the Canadian record for two-year-old pacing fillies on a half-mile track. She was four-wide on the first turn pretty close to the quarter and she did it with ease. 

"It is an honour to be a part of the evening with such a great group of horsemen and horsewomen, and all the great horses that are nominated for the awards," added Watts. "I am very excited."

This year marks the 37th edition of the O’Brien Awards, named in honour of the late Joe O’Brien, an outstanding horseman and Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee. The winners will be announced at the O’Brien Awards Gala on Saturday, Jan. 31, 2026 at the J-AAR Expo Centre at Western Fair District in London, Ont.

(Standardbred Canada; photos courtesy of New Image Media, Tiffany Chantel Photography and Dawn MacInnis)