Standardbred Canada is pleased to announce that William (Bill) Andrew of Calgary, Alberta has been voted the 2015 recipient of the Cam Fella Award.

The Cam Fella Award will be presented to Andrew at the annual O'Brien Awards Black Tie Gala on Saturday, February 13, 2016 at the Hilton Mississauga / Meadowvale Hotel in Mississauga, Ontario.

Named in honour of world-class Standardbred horse Cam Fella, the award recognizes extreme recent meritorious service to the Canadian harness racing industry.

Andrew, Chair & CEO of Long Run Exploration is a professional engineer with over 40 years of experience in oil and gas exploration and development focused in western Canada.

Andrew has been involved in harness racing since he purchased his first yearling in 1990. He shifted his focus from racing to breeding in 2003 and has made tremendous impact on the Canadian Standardbred industry for many years, especially in the provinces of Alberta, and Prince Edward Island where his two breeding operations, Meridian Farms, are based.

Aside from being a leading breeder in those two provinces, Andrew has given much back to this industry that he loves. He financially supported the 2015 Atlantic Sires Stakes trotting events so that they could continue, and also financially supported Truro Raceway and the Nova Scotia Provincial Exhibition Select Yearling Sale at Truro Raceway. His Meridian Farms initiated and supported charitable stables over the past five years, and in 2015, the program was expanded to include Nova Scotia along with Alberta and Prince Edward Island. In 2015, Andrew donated the proceeds from the sale of two yearlings to community projects, and he continued to financially support PEI’s Matinee Racetrack Development Project where young kids learn horsemanship skills so that they can possibly make the transition to larger tracks and eventual full time employment in racing.

In addition to his charitable projects and contributions, his Meridian Farms hit a major milestone in 2015, sitting in the top 15 breeders in North America for earnings with over $1.4 million.

William Andrew, along with his Meridian Farms, is a finalist for the Armstrong Breeder of the Year O’Brien Award for 2015.

Andrew is committed to promoting harness racing to new fans, and the Charity Stables are one of his most successful projects. In 2010, the program was initiated with the Fun For Fans Stable in Alberta. In 2014, he added Hurrah For Charity Stable in Prince Edward Island and this past year the Cheering For Charity Stable in Nova Scotia was added to the roster. Each of the charity stables has a horse that races under its ownership and during each month of the year, the horse races for a different local charity which is selected by the racetrack. The charity receives whatever purse money the horse makes that month and Andrew guarantees a minimum donation of $1,000 to each charity partner. The charity partner typically draws many representatives from the charity and its affiliates to come out and cheer when their horse is racing and this program has introduced hundreds of new people to racing during the past five years.

Some of the charity partners that have benefitted from Andrew’s generosity in 2015 include: 4-H, Autism Society, Bible Hill Kinsmen, Big Brothers, Big Sisters, Boys and Girls Club of Truro and Colchester, CBC Turkey Drive, Charlottetown Boys & Girls Club, Harness the Cure and Maggie’s Place.

For the past two years, Andrew initiated a Name The Foal contest for kids under the age of 16, in co-operation with the Alberta Standardbred Horse Association. (ASHA)

In 2015, Andrew donated the $24,500 from the sale of his yearling Pickles On Top (Name The Foal horse for 2014) at the ASHA Yearling Sale in Olds, Alberta, to Olds & District Hospice Society and Olds and District Christmas Angels and four Standardbred retirement groups.

In October, following the sale of his yearling Ashes To Ashes at the Nova Scotia Provincial Exhibition Select Yearling Sale in Truro, Nova Scotia, Andrew donated $5,000 from the sale to the Bible Hill Volunteer Fire Department.

Standardbred Canada established the Cam Fella Award in 1997, and fittingly its namesake was the first recipient acknowledging Cam's unparalleled contributions to the sport of harness racing. The most recent winner of the award was Admirals Express in 2010. To look at a complete list of winners, click here.

A national committee of 16 representing the Standardbred community vote by secret ballot to determine the Cam Fella Award winner. A winner must receive a majority of the Yes votes to win.

Canadian-owned, trained and driven, Cam Fella was an outstanding racehorse in the early 1980s, winning 56 races, over $2 million in purse money and two consecutive Horse of the Year titles in North America. As a stallion, 'Cam' sired numerous world champions and horses with earnings in excess of $107 million. In early 1997, Cam was diagnosed with testicular cancer and was retired from breeding. He died in May of 2001 at the Kentucky Horse Park, where he had lived for several years and served as an outstanding ambassador of the standardbred breed.

The creation of the Cam Fella Award was the harness racing industry's way of ensuring that Cam's contribution to the sport is never forgotten.