Trotting colt Marion Marauder has been named the winner of the Secretary of Agriculture’s trophy as New Jersey Standardbred of the Year for 2016.
Marion Marauder will be honoured on Jan. 29, 2017 at the 60th annual New Jersey Breeders Awards Luncheon at 1:00 p.m. at O’Connor’s Restaurant in Eastampton, N.J.
Marion Marauder is one of only nine trotters in the history of harness racing to win the coveted Triple Crown. The son of Muscle Hill-Spellbound Hanover finished his three-year-old campaign with a lifetime mark of 1:51.3. In 2016 he captured 10 wins and three seconds out of 15 starts, banking more than $1.55 million toward a career total of $1.9 million for the Ontario-based ownership of Marion Jean Wellwood and Devin Keeling. The Paula Wellwood & Mike Keeling trainee was regularly driven by Scott Zeron.
In addition to his Triple Crown feats of the $1 million Hambletonian at the Meadowlands, the $500,000 Yonkers Trot at Yonkers and the $431,000 Kentucky Futurity at the Red Mile he also won the $268,000 Goodtimes at Mohawk Racetrack and the $153,250 Stanley Dancer at the Meadowlands.
Bred by William G. Mulligan he sold for $37,000 at the Lexington Selected Sale. His sire, Muscle Hill, was the 2009 New Jersey Standardbred of the Year.
Tickets for the luncheon cost $45 per person and may be purchased from the New Jersey Department of Agriculture, Division of Markets & Development, Horse Industry, P.O. Box 330, Trenton NJ 08625. For further information call 609.984.4389 or e-mail [email protected].
(with files from SBOANJ)