One of the hottest young drivers on the scene today, Jason Bartlett, has been chosen to receive the United States Harness Writers Association’s 2008 Rising Star Award, while the new executive vice-president of the U.S. Trotting Association, Mike Tanner, will be honoured with the Lew Barasch Breakthrough Award.
Bartlett’s 2008 season has seen the 27-year-old break out in a big way. With 2008 being his first year driving regularly at Yonkers Raceway, Bartlett sits atop the driver colony. Currently fourth among all drivers in North America for wins, he is on course to eclipse 500 wins for the '08 campaign.
Bartlett has become one of the most sought after drivers at Yonkers and has a drive in every race most every night. He has also become a regular on the New York Sire Stakes circuit and will probably look to make the move to the Grand Circuit in the near future.
Bartlett grew up in Augusta, Maine and spent most of his weekends around horses. Although he was more involved in school sports at the time, he always knew he wanted to drive harness horses.
Bartlett, a basketball standout in high school and college, bounced onto the New York racing scene a short while ago and has scored big points ever since with those he has driven for.
After dominating at Scarborough Downs for several seasons, he made the move to Yonkers in 2006 where he didn't miss a beat. In fact, the competition there seemed to accelerate his acumen in the race bike.
Tanner, 42, was, until recently, the director of Racing Operations at Chester Downs, a position he assumed in October 2005 as the track prepared for its inaugural season of harness racing in 2006.
While at Chester, he spearheaded the campaign to bring back classic stakes with roots in the Delaware Valley, such as the Colonial and the Battle of the Brandywine, which seems natural for someone who grew up in the Philadelphia vicinity.
With all he accomplished at Chester it is hard to believe it was his inaugural venture into the world of standardbred racing.
In 1992, Tanner became the publicist at Detroit Race Course, which began his journey into the thoroughbred world.
He soon found himself in south Florida, where he served in a variety of positions at Gulfstream Park from 1993-2005, including director of Marketing, Media and Simulcasting, assistant to the president and director of Communications.
Bartlett and Tanner will receive their awards at the Night of Stars awards banquet on Wednesday, February 4, at the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas.
(With files from USHWA)