With the 2022 harness racing season complete, Trot Insider takes a look at some of the top ranked Standardbreds in Canada for wins, earnings and records.
Century Mach was the winningest Standardbred in Canada in 2022 with 18 victories. Her win total also topped the leaderboard in all of North America (tied with U.S.-based trotter Winning Shadow). Campaigned by Beaumont, Alta. horseman Kelly Hoerdt, the four-year-old JK Royal Flush mare accumulated her wins through 37 starts while competing in Western Canada. Among her highlights, she took a mark of 1:52.2 at Fraser Downs in the spring and strung together a four-race win streak in the fall against Open mares.
O'Brien Award finalist So Much More and claiming mare Mostly Dali finished their respective seasons with 16 wins each tied for second-place, followed by Atlantic stakes filly Therealprincess, Open pacer Codename Cigar Box and male claimer Coin Flip, all with 15 wins. With 14 victories each, Thundering Jim, Beach Journey, Pure Addition, Woodmere Rollily and No Collusion rounded out the top win leaders in Canada.
The trotters topped out at a dozen wins with Hang On Baby, Arrakis, Power And Grace and Black Tie Bash leading the diagonally-gaited group.
Sophomore pacing colt Pebble Beach led all horses for earnings on Canadian soil as he amassed $1,038,000 through a perfect five-for-five Canadian campaign that included victories in the Somebeachsomewhere Stakes, North America Cup and Breeders Crown -- the latter being a 1:48.1 lifetime mark at Woodbine Mohawk Park. The son of Downbytheseaside earned an additional $572,725 going five-for-13 stateside for trainer Noel Daley and owners Patricia Stable, Joe Sbrocco, Country Club Acres Inc., and Laexpressfoderadeovolente.
A pair of two-year-old pacers follow in second and third on the money list, with Ontario Sires Stakes star and Metro Pace champion Stockade Seelster earning $917,470 to edge out multiple Grand Circuit stakes-winning filly Sylvia Hanover, who capped off her $903,300 freshman campaign with a Breeders Crown triumph.
All three top money-earners are O'Brien Award finalists and Dan Patch Award divisional winners.
Rounding out the top 10 list are Bulldog Hanover ($846,380), top money-earning trotter Adare Castle ($668,654), Righteous Resolve ($623,704), Treacherous Dragon ($623,000), Ecurie D DK ($545,300), Oh Well ($516,537) and Gaines Hanover ($493,851).
The national season's record for 2022 was set by four-year-old pacer Bulldog Hanover, who equalled the all-time Canadian record of 1:46.4 winning the Canadian Pacing Derby on Sept. 3 at Woodbine Mohawk Park and again in the Breeders Crown on Oct. 29. The speedy son of Shadow Play, another O'Brien Award finalist and Dan Patch Award divisional winner, was campaigned by trainer Jack Darling and co-owner Brad Grant.
The three-year-old Sunshine Beach colt Stonebridge Helios paced the fastest mile of the season on a five-eighths track, winning an Ontario Sires Stakes Gold division in 1:49.4 on Aug. 7 at Georgian Downs for conditioner Gregg McNair.
Trained by Anthony Beaton, the four-year-old Betting Line gelding Linedrive Hanover's 1:49 mile in the Juravinski Cup on May 22 at Flamboro Downs stands as a national season's record and Canadian record for a half-mile track.
Breeders Crown champion King Of The North's 1:50.3 victory on Oct. 29 at Woodbine Mohawk Park was the fastest trotting mile of the year and a Canadian record for male trotters. Ray Schnittker trained the sophomore son of Walner for Schnittker Ward, Arden Homestead Stable, Nolamura Racing LLC and Steven Arnold.
O'Brien Award finalist Fashion Frenzie, a four-year-old Archangel gelding trained by Richard Moreau, holds the trotting season's record for a five-eighths track courtesy of his 1:52.3 victory in the Honourable Earl Rowe Memorial Invitational on Aug. 28 at Georgian Downs.
The fastest trotting winner on a half-mile track in 2022 was the six-year-old Trixton gelding The Fixer, who earned his only win of the year in 1:54.4 on May 14 at Flamboro for trainer David Frey.
(All statistics include Canadian starts from Jan. 1, 2022 to Dec. 31, 2022.)
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(Photos by New Image Media and Michael's Fine Photography / Clockwise from top left: Century Mach, Pebble Beach, King Of The North, Bulldog Hanover)