2023 Minnesota older divisional award winners announced

The 2023 Minnesota Harness Racing divisional award winners are being announced this week, as the MHRI annual meeting and awards banquet approaches. The celebration of the 2023 season will take place on Saturday (February 17) at Running Aces Casino, Hotel and Racetrack in Columbus.

The Minnesota divisional awards are made up of the top two performers by earnings in each age and gender group in the Minnesota-sired restricted events at Running Aces.

The 2023 older divisional champions are:  Susie’s Sister, Bringoverthemoney, Cruzin Coco, and Handsome Harvey

The 2023 older divisional runner-up award winners are: Wilamar Spark, Al-Mar Spicey Talk, Kitty Wampus and Alilthundadownunda

Susie’s Sister is a daughter of Claudius Augustus out of the S J’s Photo mare Sue’s Photo. She posted 3 wins, 4 seconds and one third from sixteen Running Aces starts in 2023 during her six-year-old campaign to capture the divisional champion award.

Susie’s Sister closed out her year with a total of 4 wins and thirteen top-three finishes from 24 starts and total earnings of $78,776 for owner Lynchris, LLC. Her fastest seasonal win time of 1:55.3 came at Running Aces on June 18, and she repeated that clocking again on July 2. She was bred by A Piece Of The Action, LLC and was trained during her Minnesota campaign by Jenni King.

The older trotting mare runner-up award winner is Wilamar Spark, a daughter of Southwind Flash who had 2 wins, 2 seconds and five thirds from 17 Aces starts, taking her career mark of 1:57.1 on August 13. She closed out her four-year-old season with a final overall summary of 27-4-4-5 with total earnings of $36,798.

Wilamar Spark is owned by her breeder Jeanne Marquis in partnership with Jay De Long and is trained by Justin Anfinson.

The older male trotting division champion is Bringoverthemoney, a son of Money Talks out of the Overcomer mare Bringitover who posted yet another very impressive campaign in his 8-year-old season.

Bringoverthemoney was competitive throughout the year at the top Open Handicap level and recorded 3 wins, 2 seconds and five thirds from 19 Aces starts, posting his fastest win of the season in 1:54.3 on Night of Champions.

Bringoverthemoney ended his 2023 campaign with an overall summary of 28-6-2-5 and total earnings of $78,114 for owner Joshua Horvat. His career earnings now stand at $366,025 which makes him the richest Minnesota-sired trotter to date. Katie Horvat is the breeder and trainer for Bringoverthemoney and his 2023 drivers included Jacob Cutting, Dean Magee and Mooney Svendsen.

The older trotting runner-up award winner is Al-Mar Spicey Talk, also a son of Money Talks and also owned by Joshua Horvat and trained by Katie Horvat.

Al-Mar Spicey Talk recorded 2 wins and six top-3 finishes from 18 Running Aces starts in 2023, equalling his career best time of 1:57.2 on July 23. He had only one start outside of Aces during his six-year-old campaign, which was a third place finish at Cannon Falls. He earned a total of $24,368 for the season, and also eclipsed the $100,000 mark in career earnings during 2023.

The 2023 champion older pacing mare is Cruzin Coco, a daughter of Voracious Hanover out of the Big Towner mare Towners Love Dove.

Cruzin Coco posted 6 wins, 1 second and two thirds from 13 starts at Running Aces during her ten-year-old season, she posted her fastest winning mile of 2023 (1:52.4) at The Meadowlands on April 14. She closed out her season with a final overall summary of 24-8-0-3 while earning a total of $48,411. Her career totals after 2023 show 47 wins and earnings of $366,764.

Cruzin Coco was bred by Ron Emerson and was owned during her 2023 Minnesota campaign by Ashley Sluggett and was trained by Darryl Cutting and later by Michael Meza. Her main drivers included Jacob Cutting and James Lackey. She was retired from racing at the end of the Running Aces season and sold to Van Otterloo Stables to begin a new career as a broodmare.

The runner-up older pacing mare award goes to Kitty Wampus, a daughter of It’s That Time who recorded 3 wins, 4 seconds and two thirds from 14 starts at Running Aces during her four-year-old campaign. Her seasonal best win of 1:54.3 came on June 15.

Kitty Wampus rounded out 2023 with a total of 3 wins and 12 top-three finishes from 37 starts, with total earnings of $50,641 for owners Heart & Soul Racing and Craig Rhodes. Brett Ballinger was the trainer at Running Aces for Kitty Wampus and she was bred by Van Otterloo Stables.

The older male pacing divisional champion award goes to Handsome Harvey, a son of Special Forces who had 6 wins and 2 seconds from 14 starts at Running Aces during his four-year-old season. He worked his way all the way up to the Open Handicap level and was able to beat some of the best older male pacers at the top level in the process.

Handsome Harvey took his career mark of 1:51.3 at Aces on July 3. He showed an overall summary of 29-12-6-4 for the year with total earnings of $89,848 for owners Dave Haness and Luke Plano, who also trains and drives. Timothy Lems was the breeder for Handsome Harvey.

The runner-up older male pacer award winner for 2023 is Alilthundadownunda, a son of Malak Uswaad N. The 2022 Minnesota Harness Horse of the Year had another great campaign as a 5-year-old in 2023.

Alilthundadownunda had 2 wins, 4 seconds and one third from 15 Running Aces starts, with his fastest win for the season of 1:52.2 coming at Aces on May 16. His overall summary for the year was 36-7-8-1 and he had total earnings in 2023 of $94,684.

Alilthundadownunda is owned by his breeder Set The Pace Racing, LLC and is trained and driven by Nick Roland.

As per tradition, the overall 2023 Minnesota Harness Horse of the Year award will have open nominations and a live vote at the (Feb 17) banquet at Running Aces.

by Darin Gagne, for Minnesota Harness Racing