The Breeders Committee of the Standardbred Breeders & Owners Association of New Jersey has selected Michael Gulotta’s Deo Volente Farms as the 2014 New Jersey Standardbred Breeder of the Year.

Deo Volente will be among the honourees at the 58th annual New Jersey Breeders Awards Luncheon at 1 p.m. on January 25, 2015 at Charley’s Other Brother in Eastampton Township, NJ.

Deo Volente Farms features state-of-the-art accommodations for stallions, mares and foals. Currently, it is the home to 37 mares, 25 foals and two stallions. The 120 acres of black-fenced paddocks and stabling are located in Franklin Township, NJ.

It was the success of a horse named Lis Mara, the 2006 Older Pacer of the Year and earner of more than $2 million, which led to the purchase of the land on Quakertown Road, construction of the farm and the concept of horses supporting a charity which builds homes in Haiti.

The newest addition to Deo Volente is 2014 Hambletonian winner Trixton, who will make his debut as a trotting stallion based in New Jersey in 2015. He will share the four-horse stallion barn at Deo Volente with pacer If I Can Dream.

In two seasons of racing, Trixton earned $947,057, taking his mark of 1:50.3 in the Hambletonian. Trixton is by a Hambletonian winner – Muscle Hill, whose sire, Muscles Yankee also won harness racing’s richest and most prestigious trotting event for three-year-olds.

Trixton will stand for a fee of $12,000 in 2015.

Deo Volente, which is Latin for ‘God Willing,’ is a showcase facility which opened in 2008, featuring a striking stone entrance and bronze statuary of a romping mare and foal.

The cream of the broodmare band includes BJs Canouan, Electric Fool, See and Be Seen and Yursa Hanover.

Gulotta was co-breeder of 2013 Three-Year-Old Pacing Filly of the Year and New Jersey Standardbred of the Year I Luv The Nitelife, who retired with earnings of nearly $2 million. She is out of another Deo Volente broodmare of note, Lisjune.

Previous New Jersey Breeder of the Year winners include three-time winner White Birch Farm, two-time winner Perretti Farms, Valley High Stables, Southwind Farms, Kentuckiana Farms, Fair Winds Farm, Walnridge Farm and Heritage Hill Farms.

For tickets to the awards luncheon, which are $35 each, contact Kim Tkacs at 609-292-8830.

(SBOANJ)