Members of Truro’s harness racing community were out in full force Saturday night (March 30) as the Truro Harness Horse Owners Association held its annual awards banquet at the Truro Horsemen's Club.

A full house was in attendance as last year’s top performers and most helpful individuals were recognized for their achievements during the 2012 racing season.

The THHOA was very excited to have the voice of Prince Edward Island harness racing, Vance Cameron, as its emcee and guest speaker. Cameron shared some of his most memorable moments from the booth, as well as giving the audience a great story as to how he became the voice of PEI racing.

The top performers from 2012 were honoured after dinner. Local MLA and racing fan Lenore Zann and Maritime Provinces Harness Racing Commission representative Jim Cameron were on hand to help hand out awards along with numerous local sponsors.

Local ageless wonder and top driver Danny Romo never got much time to relax during the night’s award ceremony. His stable picked up three awards. Along with being Truro’s winningest trainer with over 100 starts, Romo’s Top Brand was named the two-year-old pacing filly of the year, while Island Lexus picked up the trophy in the three-year-old pacing colt category.

The Greene Stable of Kennetcook, NS was also busy picking up awards, as its St Lads Dagwood defended his title as Truro’s aged pacer of the year. St Lads Dagwood’s owner, Kenny Greene, was unveiled as Standardbred Canada's owner of the year. The patriarch of the Greene Stable, Tom Greene, was awarded Senior Horsemen of the Year for his years of dedication to racing horses at Truro Raceway.

Ryan Ellis was once again awarded the Neldie Haley Memorial Jacket as Truro’s top percentage driver. Along with leading for UDR, Ellis was also the winningest driver of 2012 with 100 or more starts.

Jim Chambers and Kenny Arsenault were also presented with tokens of appreciation for their many years of contributions to the THHOA awards banquets. Arsenault has sponsored the Rookie Driver of the Year Award for over 25 years and Chambers regularly sponsored the sportsmanship awards.

Other awards and their winners are listed below;

2yo Colt Pacer
• Put To The Test

3yo Filly Pacer
• Natural Instinct

Trotter of the Year
• West River Xcel

Aged Mare
• Kendel Courageous

Claiming Mare
• NF Debutante

Claiming Horse
• Secret Fantasy

Most Improved Horse
• MM Lass

Winningest Driver (100 starts)
• Clare MacDonald

Winningest Trainer (100 starts)
• Darren Crowe

Most Sportsmanlike Driver
• Kenny Parker Jr.

Most Sportsmanlike Trainer
• Blair Laffin

Rookie Driver of the Year
• Paul Langille

Horsewomen of the Year
• Penny Wesley

Iron Man Award
• Dave Carey

3D Award (dedication, desire, determination)
• Steve Morton

Grooms of the Year
• Ryder Rennison
• Elizabeth Rose Shaw

Junior Horsewomen of the Year
• Alecia Mansfield

Along with handing out local award winners, the THHOA also handed out awards for all the Nova Scotia Stakes series winners. These included:

2yo Pacing Colt
• The Rev

2yo Pacing Filly
• West River Xtra

3yo Pacing Colt
• Onward Finesse

3yo Pacing Filly
• Pictonian Amanda

3yo Pacing Filly
• Isle Of Palms

2yo Trotter
• West River Xcel

3yo Trotter
• Majian Chester

Upon the completion of the awards ceremony many horsemen and women stuck around to dance the night away to a great live band.

The banquet community did an outstanding job once again at pumping up everyone's morale, as the track heads into another racing season with Opening Day announced as April 21.

(THHOA)