The PEIHRIA, SBHOA and Matinee Racetrack Awards Banquet took place at Red Shores' Charlottetown Driving Park on Wednesday, November 30.

Close to 200 people from both ends of the Island braved snow and power outages to attend and many of them were teenage horsemen.

Recalling the win at CDP in his first start for 18-year-old Ryan DesRoche driving for 16 year-old trainer Austin Sorrie, Master of Ceremonies Susan Whelan emphasized that nowhere else in Canada, or North America for that matter, is youth encouraged like we do here and given an apprenticeship opportunity like our matinee program.

Awards were presented to top points winners from the matinee Challenge Series and several new awards were collected for sportsmanship, dedication and youth achievement.

Winners are:

‘A’ Division Champion
Badlands Giovann
• owned by Steven Sweet
• driven by Brady Sweet

‘C’ Division Champion
Fast Flyer
• owned by Zach and Paul Conway
• driven by Zach Conway

2016 Matinee Champion
Freddy My Boy
• owned by Tammy Collings
• driven by Austin Sorrie

Rising Star Awards
Madison Rogers
Gillian Reeves
Mackenzie Arsenault
Jenae Wallace

Greenhawk VIP Award
Zach Conway

Junior Rookie of the Year
Jacob Sweet

Rookie of the Year
Brady Sweet

Driver of the Year
Austin Sorrie

Female Driver of the Year
Heather Gamester

Standardbred Canada Owner of the Year
Heather Gamester (owner of Royal Val)

Meridian Farms Sportsman of the Year
Philip Desroche

Byron Gamester Dedication Award
Melvin Gamester

Foiled Again Youth Achievement Award
Christopher MacRae

(PEI Matinee Development Project)