A Return Two Decades In The Making

Harness racing is a game of highs and lows. Ask any participant, it can be a long time between drinks. In the case of trainer Kevin Benn and the O'Brien Awards, that drought spanned 20 years.

At the 1998 O'Brien Awards, trainer Kevin Benn and owner Eric Baker made their way to the stage to accept the hardware for Canada's Three-Year-Old Trotting Colt of the Year with Baker's homebred Stormont Tuscany. Now 20 years later, Benn and Baker are back with another shot as their trotting colt Stormont Ventnor is one of the finalists in the exact same category.

In his sophomore campaign, Stormont Ventnor had four wins, two of those in Ontario Sires Stakes events, along with $268,000 in purse money. The trotting colt stepped up to Grand Circuit competition after racing against just OSS Grassroots foes as a freshman.

"Stormont Ventnor's 2018 season was very rewarding for us coming from racing in the Grassroots in 2017 to racing against the best in the U.S. and Canada," trainer Kevin Benn told Trot Insider. "You dream of racing horses at that level and being competitive!"

Early on in his three-year-old season, Stormont Ventnor showed he was ready for more than just Grassroots racing. After qualifying for the final of the Goodtimes Trot, Stormont Ventnor finished a solid second to Wolfgang as the longest shot on the toteboard. Benn pointed to this race as one of the highlights of the year, with another race later in the season having a special sentimental meaning.

"Highlights were [the Goodtimes] and winning in front of a big crowd of fans at Rideau Carleton Raceway that included a large group of Eric Baker's family and my mom, who hasn't made it to the races in years!"

Benn stated that the altered son of Justice Hall - Lady Grenville will return to the racetrack in 2019 and follow a conservative schedule of racing primarily at Woodbine Mohawk Park while being paid into a few stakes events north of the border.

Boasting his third best season for earnings in 2018 by virtue of a 11-10-14 campaign from just 65 starts that netted $377,729 in purses, Benn attributed a great deal of his success to his longtime associate, owner Eric Baker.

"I owe most of the year's success to Eric Baker for letting me train and manage Ventnor without any pressure and the confidence to leave his horses under our care for more than 25 years," said Benn. "I'm happy that the horse was recognized for his great season and that so many people were happy for us."

Whether the voters sided with Stormont Ventnor or his OSS rival Run Director, Benn is sure to receive a fair number of compliments and accolades from his contemporaries at the 2018 O'Brien Awards next month, an event he's very much looking forward to attending once again as a finalist.

"Last time we were at the O'Brien Awards l remember it being first class," noted the Napanee, Ont. native. "I enjoyed the videos clips of the inductees and the effort put into an evening like this."

Standardbred Canada will present the 30th edition of the O’Brien Awards on Saturday, February 2, 2019 at the Hilton Mississauga/Meadowvale Hotel. Tickets and program ads are now on sale and can be purchased by contacting the Member & Stakeholder Relations Department at 905-858-3060. Tickets are $200 each (includes HST) and include a cocktail reception, gourmet dinner, wine, and complimentary portrait.