With the 2025 O'Brien Awards less than two weeks away, Trot Insider continues to shine the spotlight on this year's finalists.

The three finalists vying for divisional honours in the Older Pacing Mare division are Caviar N Crackers, Grit N Grace and Sylvia Hanover.

Caviar N Crackers dominated the spring-summer months at Woodbine Mohawk Park, winning eight Mares Preferreds by August. The Alberta-bred took a mark of 1:49.3 as she began a four-race winning streak in July — her second of two Preferred grand slams in 2025 — for owners Ed and Ashleigh Hensley of Dundas, Ont.

“Caviar N Crackers being named a finalist is very special to Ed and I,” said Ashleigh Hensley, who handles the training duties while her husband drove the mare throughout the season. “She is the best horse we have ever owned ourselves and we feel very proud of her accomplishments.”

The highlight of the Caviar N Crackers's five-year-old campaign, according to Hensley, was her victory in the Forest City Pace at The Raceway at Western Fair District on May 30. The daughter of Captive Audience-Crackers Hot Shot circled fellow finalist Grit N Grace at the quarter and proved uncatchable on the lead, drawing away by 2-1/4 lengths over Grit N Grace, who finished second.

"Caviar N Crackers is definitely our barn star. She’s the boss and she likes things her way," said Hensley, indicating the mare has an attitude befitting her upper-crust moniker. "She’s usually the smallest mare in her race... and the cutest."

The distaff finished the year 12-for-40 with $271,180 in earnings and won the Mares Preferred class nine times. She has been trained by Ashleigh and driven by Ed in every start since they brought her to Ontario in her four-year-old season. Her lifetime record now consists of 24 wins from 103 starts and $528,021 in earnings.

Manitoba-bred Grit N Grace ended her four-year-old season with three consecutive wins in the Mares Open at Mohawk, capped off by a 4-3/4-length romp on Dec. 20. In her first full year in Ontario, the mare ascended to the top overnight level and won 15 of 36 starts, including nine in the Open/Preferred ranks. She also finished second in the Margaret Juravinski Memorial and Forest City Pace in back-to-back starts.

“It is an unbelievable feeling and honour for a small hometown stable,” owner/breeder Lorraine Rey of St. Claude, Man. said of the nomination.

Grit N Grace is the second O’Brien Award nominee in three years to come from the Rey family of Manitoba. Emmetts Buddy, owned and bred by Arthur Rey, became his home province’s fastest-ever product and its first son to break 1:50 when he won in 1:49 at Mohawk in 2023. He took four Preferred-level events that year, earning a nomination for Older Pacing Horse. Grit N Grace, a homebred for Arthur’s sister-in-law Lorraine, joined Emmetts Buddy in the sub-1:50 club this year when she won in 1:49.3 at Mohawk on June 20. Trained by Mike Kwietniowski and driven mainly by Jody Jamieson, the daughter of Im The Pied Piper-Dragonart earned $352,520 in 2025. She has won 22 of 52 career starts and raked in $409,985 in earnings.

“I am very honoured and extremely happy that our farm has produced a horse of this calibre for being in racing and breeding for 55 years,” said Lorraine Rey. “I’m looking forward to O’Brien Awards night.”

An O’Brien Award winner at two and three, Sylvia Hanover hopes to add the Older Pacing Mare award to her cabinet following her farewell season. She made fewer than half the starts (14) of her fellow finalists, but the 2023 Canadian Horse of the Year competed against the sport’s best and fought a captivating rivalry with 2024 U.S. Horse of the Year Twin B Joe Fresh.

Of her six seasonal wins, three were in top-class distaff events at Mohawk, and three were Grand Circuit victories. She won the Perfect Sting on June 28 at The Meadowlands — one of three triumphs over Twin B Joe Fresh — and then set a 1:47.2 divisional world record over a five-eighths-mile track in the Clara Barton at Plainridge Park on July 20. Two weeks later, the five-year-old captured the Lady Liberty in 1:48.2 on Hambletonian Day.

“From the end of June into August, 'Sylvia' was the queen again as she was as a two- and three-year old,” said Tony Infilise, who co-owns her with his wife, Betty Infilise, through Hudson Standardbred Stable Inc. of Hudson, Que. “Having her be at her best at the Big M on Hambo Day was the sweetest for our family, with three generations in the win picture.”

Trained by Shawn Steacy for her Canadian starts and Mark Steacy for those stateside, she racked up $639,096 in earnings over the course of the season with Bob McClure and Tim Tetrick sharing driving duties. The daughter of Always B Miki-Shyaway concluded her career with 27 wins and $2,874,471 in the bank in 53 starts.

“Sylvia now has a date with Captaintreacherous and is starting her new chapter as a mom at Kentuckiana Farms in Kentucky,” said Infilise. “We’re very appreciative of the care and attention being given to Sylvia by Ryan and Bob Brady at Kentuckiana. She is like no horse we’ve ever owned, clearly in achievements and earnings, but also as a very strong-minded filly and mare. As Bob McClure and Natasha, Shawn, and Mark Steacy have chronicled, ‘she da boss.’”

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 Racehorsephoto, New Image Media, Tom Melanson)