The other Horse of the Year

While the Thoroughbred Eclipse awards get the most attention there was another horse of the year title handed out recently. SomeBeachSomewhere was named Horse of the Year and Pacer of the Year and Deweycheatumnhowe was named Trotter of the Year.

 Far less noticed than the Thoroughbred stars, Standardbred racing has had a banner year too. SomeBeachSomewhere retired with 20 wins from 21 starts and $3.22 million in earnings, including 14 of 15 in 2008 with a single season earnings record of $2.44 million. He won the North America Cup. He won the Breeders Crown. He won the Messenger Stakes. He earned the Dan Patch Award for Pacer of the year and 3 year old colt pacer of the year. He equaled the fastest mile i history at 1:46.4 in Lexington and set the world record for 3 year old pacers on a half mile track. In his division he was every bit as dominant as some of thoroughbred's stars with more starts and less money to show for it, but an accomplishment worthy of noting! The only loss was to Art Official by a neck in a world record 1:47 mile at the Meadowlands Pace. SomeBeachSomewhere will be standing at Hanover Shoe Farms in Pennsylvania for $20,000 fee. SomeBeachSomewhere is by Mach Three out of WheresTheBeach by Beach Towel and second dam by the outstanding Cam Fella.

 SomeBeachSomewhere was also awarded the Cam Fella Award that recognizes "extreme recent meritorious service to the Canadian harness racing industry." The awards have piled up for the solid bay colt. Cam Fella himself was a beloved stallion and in the early 1980s won 56 races, topped $2million in earnings and was twice Horse of the Year. At the time he was the richest pacer in history who refused to lose. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1986. In early 1997 he was retired from breeding following a diagnosis of testicular cancer but he made his mark then at the Kentucky Horse Park where he was an ambassador for the Standardbred. Cam Fella died in 2001 but much like flat runners racing remembers it's own and the champions deserve recognition for what they did and who they were.

Trotter of the Year Deweycheatumnhowe was the best 3 year old trotter and is only the second trotter to hit $2 million in a single season. He is the first to reach $3million at 3 years with a 2008 record of 12 wins from 15 starts and 22 wins from 25 starts lifetime. He's a son of Muscles Yankee out of Trolley Square by Speedy Somolli. With Speedy Crown on both sides of the pedigree and a performance record Deweycheatumnhowe has been retired to Walnut Hall Ltd. in Kentucky where he stands for a $25,000 fee.

The two year olds named champions were trotters Muscle hill for the colts and Honorable Daughter for fillies. Pacers were Major In Art for colts and Fox Valley Topaz. For three year old fillies Lantern Kronos got the nod for trotters while Tug River Princess was voted top pacer. Not to be outdone the older horses honored include trotters Enough Talk (males), Buck I St Pat (female) and pacers Mister Big (male) and My Little Dragon (female).