Reviewing the first quarter of the 2026 harness racing season, Trot Insider takes a look at some of the top performing Standardbreds in Canada for wins, earnings and season's records.
A quartet of pacers are currently tied for most wins in Canada this year with seven successful starts. The win leaders are Lets N Joy N, Rbstenacious T, Side Effects and Thatmomentinlife. Those four are among a dozen Standardbreds atop the leaderboard North America-wide with seven wins.
Lets N Joy N boasts a near-perfect record since arriving in Canada, from winning the Blizzard Pacing Series to the Fillies & Mares Open at Woodbine Mohawk Park during eight seasonal starts for trainer Jacques Dupont. The four-year-old Bettors Delight-Rock N Joy mare is owned by the Quebec-based Ecurie Csl.
Rbstenacious T counts a sweep of the three-leg Snowshoe Series among his seven wins for trainer Jodie Cullen. Another successful Indiana-sired acquisition for the Cullen clan, the four-year-old Freaky Feet Pete-Aunt Marlene gelding is owned by Cullen's husband Ron and son Travis, along with their Alberta partner Deborah McLeod.
Four-year-old claiming mare Side Effects, a daughter of Control The Moment out of Windsun Jagra, started the season with a new lifetime mark of 1:53.3 winning out of the David Menary barn then went on to win six in a row at Mohawk for trainer Kyle Fellows and Ontario owners Patrick Dillion, Patti Hoskin, Henry Tarniowy and Steve McGill.
Trainer Gerard Demers's claiming pacer Thatmomentinlife, an eight-year-old Control The Moment gelding out of multiple stakes winner Artimittateslife, has earned all of his seven wins, including four in a row to start the season, competing at The Raceway at Western Fair District.
The winningest trotter in Canada so far this season is Kyle Bossence trainee Muskie Man, one of seven horses with six victories in 2026.
With earnings already in six-figure territory, the richest horses include a pair of David Menary-trained Open pacers, top money-earner Its Saturday Night ($130,500) and Brue Hanover ($108,000).
Its Saturday Night, a five-year-old Always B Miki-Night Music gelding with wins in half of his 10 top-tier seasonal starts at Mohawk, will look to add to his leading bankroll for Pennsylvania owner Pollack Racing as he heads postward in this weekend's $67,500 final of the New Holland Pacing Series.
Owned by Pennsylvania's Burke Racing Stable and Weaver Bruscemi, O'Brien Award runner-up Brue Hanover is four-for-eight competing in the Mohawk Open ranks to start his six-year-old campaign.
The Kyle Fellows-trained six-year-old Angostura Hanover ranks second overall and leads the pacing mares with $118,600 earned after going five-for-10 in the top distaff classes at Mohawk for Ontario owners Dr. Peter Johnston and Craig Watkins.
The aforementioned win leader, Lets N Joy N, ranks fourth for earnings with $93,750, just ahead of top earning trotter Devils Arch, who has banked $93,500 while climbing to the Open level at Mohawk for trainer Jean-Francois Maguire.
Its Saturday Night's latest 1:50 triumph in a leg of the New Holland on March 28 is the fastest mile of the 2026 season so far in Canada.
Total Stranger paced the fastest mile over a half-mile track when the Jared Mann-trained brother to double millionaire Tall Dark Stranger won in 1:52.2 at Flamboro Downs on March 29.
Myfriendjose holds the national season's trotting record courtesy of his 1:53.1 score at Mohawk on March 15. Herb Holland trains the five-year-old Father Patrick-Jewels In Hock gelding for owner Kostas Diakoloukas of Brampton, Ont.
Dahlquist Hanover is the fastest of the season trotting on a half-mile track after winning in 1:55.4 at Flamboro on a foggy night on Feb. 19 for the Garry Merner stable.
**All statistics include Canadian starts from Jan. 1, 2026 through March 31, 2026.
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(Standardbred Canada)