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HARRISBURG, PA – Some people were familiar with the early career accomplishments of Jessica Hallett: a Youth member of USHWA, a talented photographer and an honors graduate in pre-med in Florida, then moving with her parents to the Saratoga (NY) environs, where she became the track photographer and also contributed harness racing stories to the oval’s publicity efforts.
Some became aware of her in the wake of the awful barn fire at Tioga Downs (NY), after which Jessica emerged as the chief voice for the deceased horses and the grieving families badly affected by the blaze, with praiseworthy sketches, poems and other writings, and retail items quickly emerging from her fertile imagination, quickly catching the attention of the media, including the New York Times.
Those two paragraphs explain why Jessica Hallett was nominated in both the Breakthrough (30YO-under non-backstretch promising career) and Unsung Hero (an outside source providing great relief) categories during awards balloting by the United States Harness Writers Association (USHWA), and those signs of resource and talent convinced “both groups” and enabled her to win both categories in the voting.
After the amount of work she did on Tioga while fulfilling her regular duties, a veteran journalist commented on more than the quantity of her output: “Her material is getting better every day.” An innovative boldness through a terrible ordeal and a steady output in the workaday world mark Jessica Hallett – just 24 years old – as a harness racing force to watch for many years to come.
JAY HOCHSTETLER – RISING STAR AWARD
Jay Hochstetler, bringing a faultless pedigree to training harness horses, continued to move forward in quantity and quality so that he could capture USHWA’s Rising Star Award, though his winning margin over multi-track driving phenomenon Brett Beckwith was as tight as could be at 51-50.
A son of veteran talented horsepeople Homer and Connie Hochstetler (her father is the Hall Of Fame trainer Doug Ackerman), young Hochstetler made his mark on both gaits during 2023, only his third full year in charge of a barn. His seasonal earnings have progressed from $548,624 in 2021 to $950,358 in 2022 to $1,536,028 this past year, largely with his “Team Ponda” horses.
On the pace, Hochstetler conditioned Ponda Warrior, winner of the $300,000 Dan Patch Pace at Hochstetler’s base of Hoosier Park. On the trot, two dominant performers were freshman filly Ponda Title, Indiana Super Final winner and second in the Doherty and the Kentuckiana open stakes, and sophomore colt Ponda Jet, multiple IndSS prelim winner and third on the final, and stakes-placed in many open-class starts.
LINDA TOSCANO – GOOD GUY AWARD
Trainer Linda Toscano is no stranger to receiving accolades for her long and successful career – named in 2018 to the Harness Racing Hall Of Fame, she was also USHWA’s Trainer of the Year in 2012. This year Linda adds another award to her collection – USHWA’s Good “Guy” Award, for cooperation with the communications arm of harness racing. (Toscano is the fourth woman to be so honored, joining Dottie Haughton, Jo Ann Looney-King, and Michelle Crawford.)
The Toscano barn earned just over $4 million in 2023, her second-best season ever, which raised her lifetime total to $68.6 million, tenth on the all-time list. Her star was the seven-figure earner this campaign, Its My Show, who won the North America Cup and then the Little Brown Jug – the latter win capping a thrilling two days for Toscano at Delaware (OH), as the previous day she won the Jugette with Ucandoit Blue Chip. Joining Ucandoit Blue Chip as a major three-year-old pacing filly star was Odds On Hail Mary, the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes champion.
Whether in victory or defeat, Linda was as always cooperative and forthcoming with the press, giving insightful answers that presented harness racing in a positive light, much in the spirit of the great Billy Haughton, for whom the award was named (and whose wife Dottie was the first female Good Guy winner.)
Jessica Hallett, Jay Hochstetler, and Linda Toscano are to be honored at the annual Dan Patch Awards Banquet, presented by Caesars Entertainment, to be held Sunday, February 25, 2024 at the Rosen Centre in Orlando FL.
Room reservations at Rosen Centre for the star-studded Dan Patch Awards weekend can be made at the USHWA website at usharnesswriters.com.
Sponsorship opportunities for the event can be procured from sponsorship chairman Shawn Wiles at swiles@rwcatskills.com.
Advertisements in the souvenir journal can be arranged with journal chairman Kim Rinker at trotrink@aol.com.
Tickets for the banquet can be procured from ticket chairman Judy Davis-Wilson at zoe8874@aol.com or Liz Cheesman at Elizabeth.Cheesman@winbakfarm.com.
