National honors

2002 Dan Patch Awards

Illinois-bred horses had unprecedented success in voting for 2002 national year-end awards. Kadabra was named Trotter of the Year, finished second behind Real Desire for Horse of the Year and was named the top 3-year-old colt trotter. Loyal Opposition picked up the Dan Patch award in the 2-year-old filly pacing division. And Plesac was a finalist among the older trotting horses, coming in a distant second to Dan Patch winner Fool's Goal.

Here's a rundown of the Dan Patch awards and voting. (Gratuitous pat on the back: Larry Hamel correctly selected the award winners in all categories):
 
Award
Winner
Votes
Runner-up
Votes
Horse of the Year
Real Desire
93
Kadabra
44
Trotter of the Year
Kadabra
122
Fools Goal
34
Pacer of the Year
Real Desire
136
Art Major
32
2yo filly pacer
Loyal Opposition
64
Armbro Amoretto
59
2yo colt pacer
Allamerican Native
163
Sir Luck
22
2yo filly trotter
Pizza Dolce
167
Pick Me Up
15
2yo colt trotter
Broadway Hall
183
CCs Chuckie T
5
3yo filly pacer
Worldly Beauty
190
Always Cam
6
3yo colt pacer
Art Major
148
McArdle
23
3yo colt trotter
Kadabra
179
Like A Prayer
9
3yo filly trotter
Cameron Hall
191
    
Mare pacer
Eternal Camnation
162
Bunny Lake
15
Older male pacer
Real Desire
185
Camotion
4
Mare trotter
Emma Hanover
55
Dresden Dolly
54
Older male trotter
Fools Goal
175
Plesac
10

Real Desire, the 2002 Harness Horse of the Year,
is co-owned by Chicagoan George Segal. He is the
first aged pacer to win the award since Staying
Together in 1993. Real Desire will stand at stud at
Segal's Brittany Farms in Kentucky.
 


 

Historic night for Morgan: How it stacks up

When Tony Morgan drove nine winners and three second-place finishers in 12 races on March 28, 2003, at Maywood Park, that performance broke the Chicago-circuit record for wins on one card. It also ranks second-best all-time under the Universal Driver Rating System among North American reinsman who have nine or more victories on one raceway program. The Universal Driver Rating system is akin to baseballís slugging percentage. It is calculated by multiplying wins times 9, places times 5 and shows times 3, adding those three, and dividing the sum by starts times 9. Hereís a rundown of the 10 times that drivers have won nine or more on a card ranked by UDRS ("odds" are the average odds of the driversí winning horses):

Driver                                 Date                     Track            St.   W  P   S   UDRS   Odds
Billy "Zeke" Parker Jr.        Oct. 20, 1996        Monticello    10      9   1    0    .956        2.08
Tony Morgan                      March 28, 2003    Maywood     12      9   3    0    .889        2.39
Stephane Bouchard             March 8, 2003      Yonkers        12      9   1    1    .824        1.21
Dave Palone                        Sept. 11, 1999       Meadows     13    10   1    0    .812        1.51
Walter Case Jr.                   May 26, 1999        Northfield    13    10   1    0    .812        1.59
Walter Case Jr.                   June 15, 1996        Yonkers       12      9    0    2   .806        4.01
Luc Ouellette                      July 22, 1995         Yonkers       12      9    0    2   .806        1.12
Walter Case Jr.                   June 10, 2000        Pocono        13      9    1    2   .786        0.74
Walter Case Jr.                   June 16, 1998        Yonkers       12      9    0    0   .750        1.06
David Miller                       Jan. 10, 1998         Northfield    15      9    2    0    .674       1.82
Source: Harness Racing Communications.