The Keystone Chapter of the United States Harness Writers Association (USHWA) have announced their annual awards for outstanding accomplishments by Pennsylvania or Pennsylvania-connected interests, both in 2021 and for some over a longer period of time.
The Mary Lib Miller Award is named after the gracious and helpful wife of “Mr. Harness Racing,” Hall of Famer Delvin Miller of The Meadows and Adios fame, and this year it has been awarded to the Standardbred industry’s leading nursery, Hanover Shoe Farms in southcentral Pennsylvania.
Hanover has been the leading money-winning breeder in every year since Standardbred records began to be kept in 1949, and in this, its 74th consecutive year as No. 1, it seems likely to top the second-best production year ever, the $31.6 million the farm’s offspring earned in 2018 – a figure which has been exceeded only by Hanover’s own record $34.0 million total of 2019.
It has stood and continues to stand a mix of established and classic stallions – its current roster includes Andover Hall, Cantab Hall, Greenshoe, Papi Rob Hanover and Tall Dark Stranger – and it is noted for its “aftercare” life arrangements for horses after their breeding careers are over. Overseen by some of the legendary names in the business – Sheppard, Simpson, Williams, Spears – Hanover is indeed the best of its type the sport offers.
Keystone President Heather Wilder has given a Presidential Award to Dr. John Egloff, patriarch of Vieux Carré Farms in Gettysburg (Vieux Carré is French for “old square,” a nod to the native Louisiana of the doctor and his wife Judy). Dr. Egloff started in harness racing as a farm veterinarian, then decided to run his own operation with the opening of Vieux Carré in 1978.
Champions born and raised at Vieux Carré including Always B Miki, champion racehorse (1:46) and sire; Pine Chip, the fastest trotter ever (T1:51) at the time (1994); and no fewer than seven Breeders Crown champions in all. Dr. Egloff serves on several national influential boards within the sport, and he is a member of the Pennsylvania State Harness Racing Commission.
The three-year-old Creatine trotting colt Jujubee was voted the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes Horse of the Year. Trained by Greg Wright Jr. for owner/trainer Jon Erdner, Jujubee was top point-earner in his Sire Stakes preliminaries with two wins and two seconds, then won handily in his championship in 1:51.4, a stakes record. The sophomore also posted the highest money total among all 2021 PASS competitors, earning $219,416 in the program. Jujubee also won twice in sub-1:50 time, taking his mark with a 1:49.3 in the Kentucky Futurity, and then ending his campaign with a Breeders Crown victory while sporting a seasonal bankroll of $948,791.
The Schadel Family of father Todd, mother Christine, and son Cody has won the Outstanding Fair Stable award after winning at a high rate throughout the year, with Todd the winningest trainer and driver and 19-year-old Cody finishing ninth in the drivers’ ranks in his first full season of competition. Christine is a partner in many of the horses coming out of the barn; she owns many with Todd, and some with other partners.
Seth Dowling, a multitalented worker for the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Association (the state’s marketing arm for racing), has been selected as the Keystone chapter’s Member of the Year. Dowling has been a trainer, but these days he is well-known for his work on the Pennsylvania fair circuit, serving as photographer for several years, and this season serving as a one-man production crew in sending out the fair races live, handling the camera work and the production board in real time.
Sam Beegle and Rachel Olszewski of the Pennsylvania Harness Horsemen’s Association have been instrumental in working with Keystone USHWA to allow our awards to be presented at the annual end-of-the-year awards banquet, which will take place this year on Saturday, Jan. 22, 2022 at the Omni Bedford Springs Resort. The writers will also be producing a souvenir journal, which will honour both its own award winners and all of the top horses and horsepeople racing on the Pennsylvania fair circuit. More news about the banquet (reservations, tickets) and advertising in the souvenir journal will be available shortly.
(USHWA Keystone Chapter)