The 31st edition of the O’Brien Awards, celebrating and honouring the best in Canadian harness racing, took place on Saturday, February 1 at the Hilton Mississauga / Meadowvale Hotel in Mississauga, Ont.
The red carpet show and cocktail reception kicked the evening off at 5:30 p.m. Dinner was at 6:45 p.m. and the award presentations started at roughly 9:00 p.m. A dance capped off the evening.
2019 O'Brien Award Red Carpet Show
2019 O'Brien Award Red Carpet Wrap-Up
The O’Briens were video streamed live on standardbredcanada.ca starting at approximately 9:00 p.m. (EST).
Live updates were posted from @trotinsider on Twitter and on the Standardbred Canada Facebook page. The hashtag for the O’Briens is #obriens19.
The Standardbred Canada Industry Communications team provided live news and commentary on all the happenings from the Hilton Mississauga / Meadowvale Hotel throughout the night. Winners were announced through the live twitter feed below as they happened.
The who’s who of the harness racing was on hand to receive their coveted O’Brien bronzes. The awards are named in honour of the late Joe O’Brien, a trainer-driver from Prince Edward Island who was highly regarded and is a member of the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.
Eighteen O'Brien Awards were given out for the 2019 harness racing season. Thirteen of the awards honour the premier horses over the past racing season, including the most coveted trophy, Canada's Horse of the Year. The horse awards are divided by age, sex and gait. There are two finalists in all of the categories.
There are five people awards, one each for Driver of the Year, Trainer of the Year, Armstrong Bros. Farm Breeder of the Year, the O'Brien Award of Horsemanship, and Future Star. In addition, the Cam Fella Award, three Media Excellence Awards and an award for Outstanding Groom were doled out.
Standardbred Canada extends its congratulations to all of the evening’s finalists!