After a spectacular season in the sulky, Jazmin Arnold has been unanimously named USHWA's National Amateur of the Year. She now joins Hannah Miller as only the second female to earn the prestigious honour.
In her first full season driving harness horses, to say that the diminutive miss posted excellent numbers would be a gross understatement. Currently with 59 trips to post Arnold has notched 23 wins, 10 seconds and five thirds for a spectacular .512 UDR.
“I'm tremendously honoured with award, but it wasn't anything that I (was) seeking when the season started,” Arnold related. “But after success at the Ohio Fairs I was approached by Steve Oldford who was seeking members for the Billings Series and I was quick to jump aboard. And it turned out to be absolutely fabulous for me.”
A member of a harness racing family and a veteran of the Woodland Run Equine Veterinarian Clinic in Columbus, Ohio, as well as an accomplished barrel-racer, Arnold was urged by her boyfriend, Adam Short, to try her hand at driving. And after a few victories she was hooked.
After mainly driving around the Ohio county fairs for her dad, Larry Finn, and Adam Short, she then met veteran trainer Herman Hagerman, whom she admits was instrumental in helping her along in her burgeoning career by offering her a chance to drive some good raceway stock.
“He was the easiest man in the world to drive for,” she said. “He is low keyed and easy going and he taught me a lot about handling and driving a harness horse.”
Once Arnold joined the Billings Series, she was a terror on the racetrack. Arnold recently won 12 races against accomplished Billings drivers at Delaware, Ohio and at pari-mutuel racetracks in the Midwest. On November 3, Arnold recorded a driving double, as she won both Billings trots at Northfield Park.
Courtesy of her talent and dedication, Arnold has gained respect from the industry, and the sky's the limit for Jazmin Arnold.
When the members of the United States Harness Writers Association host the annual convention and awards banquet in Orlando in late February, Arnold will accept the 2019 National Amateur Driver of the Year Award.
(With files from USHWA)