Standardbred Canada has decided that the 25th Anniversary edition of the O’Brien Awards will be the final year that the bronze bust of Joe O’Brien will be presented as the official trophy to the national champions.
SC has issued an RFP for a new trophy design for the O’Brien Awards. The new trophy will be presented starting with the 2014 O’Brien Awards in January, 2015.
“For the past 24 years, the O’Brien bronze has been the face and brand of Canada’s national harness racing awards. It has served its purpose well and stood the test of time,” said John Gallinger, president and CEO of Standardbred Canada. “The Board felt that an opportune time for a new more modern trophy design would be after the 25th Anniversary of the Awards.”
For information on the RFP for the O’Brien trophy, please contact Kathy Wade Vlaar at [email protected] or 905-858-3060 (Ext. 207).
It was recently announced that the 2014 O'Brien Awards will be hosted in Charlottetown, P.E.I. on February 8, 2014.
For more information on the 2014 O'Brien Awards, click here.
From across the pond..... I
From across the pond.....
I had the privilege to work for Joe O'Brien in 1972, taking care of Melvins Woe in his 2YO season. Whilst the current trophy does not particularly do visual justice to him, I would hope that the modernistic approach of the SC board of directors means that the replacement choice would in no way detract from the awards original concept.
I think the new trophy should
I think the new trophy should be two headed - Salton McGuinty on one side and Dwight Duncan on the other to honour the great service they did to harness racing in Ontario!
They finally listened to me!
They finally listened to me! I told Ted Smith (then, President) and everybody at SC for years that they needed a new trophy. Joe O'Brien was a great horseman, but who wants to wake up everyday being stared at by the head of a dead man!