Minnesota Harness Racing announces 2023 freshman award winners

Columbus, MN – 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 harness racing 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.

First up are the freshman divisions:

The 2023 Minnesota Harness Racing freshman divisional Champions are:Baby Flash (Southwind Flash), Insurrectionist (Banker Volo-Lindy’s On Fire), Apple Juice (Fancy Schmansy-Computer Art) and El Parrandero Q (Wind Me Up-Lil Miss Knuckles)

The 2023 freshman divisional Runner-Up award winners are:Banker’s Grace (Banker Volo), Banker’s Quest (Banker Volo), Deja Vu Babyboo (Karpathian Kid-Whatitdo Babyboo) and Fast Larry (Art’s Chip)

The Minnesota Champion freshman filly trotter award will go to Baby Flash. She dominated her division, storming into Running Aces on July 11 after ripping of four wins at the Iowa fairs to start her career. She won 5 of her 7 starts at Running Aces and overall, she won 13 of 15 races for the year and earned a total of $92,474 while taking her freshman mark of 2:01.2 at Aces on September 16.

Baby Flash was bred by Dennis Bontrager and is owned by trainer Rick Huffman in partnership with Keith Wilson and Brenda Lovetinsky. Her regular pilot is Chad Svendsen.

The Runner-Up freshman filly trotter award winner is Banker’s Grace, who had one win and six top-3 finishes from 10 starts in 2023 while earning a total of $44,751 and taking a mark of 2:02.2 at Aces.

Banker’s Grace was bred by her owner Kennedy Roland and is trained by Dan Roland.  Nick Roland and Rick Magee were go-to drivers for Banker’s Grace.

The freshman colt Champion trotter award goes to Insurrectionist. He took a mark of 2:00.3 on August 15 while completing a 3-race win streak at Running Aces. He won a total of $68,907 with 5 wins on his card overall from 12 starts and was never off the board during his freshman campaign.

Insurrectionist is owned by his breeder Jeralene Roland and is trained by Dan Roland. He was regularly driven by Luke Plano.

The Runner-Up freshman colt trotter award winner is Banker’s Quest, who is also owned by breeder Jeralene Roland and trained by Dan Roland.

Banker’s Quest had one win and nine top-3 finishes from 11 starts in 2023 and took a freshman mark of 2:02.1 at Aces. He earned a total of $46,314 for the season.

The 2023 freshman filly Champion pacer award winner is Apple Juice, who is a homebred for owner/trainer/breeder Scott Banitt.

Apple Juice was part of a huge rivalry amongst the top-two fillies in her division, trading wins throughout the season with the division runner-up. Apple Juice was able to capture the championship award by posting 5 wins in her last seven Aces starts.

Apple Juice took a mark of 1:54.2 on August 24 and finished her freshman campaign with an overall total of 8 wins and 4 seconds from 13 starts and total earnings of $103,117. Jacob Cutting was the first-call driver for Apple Juice.

The Runner-Up freshman filly pacer award winner is Deja Vu Babyboo. She posted a stellar freshman campaign as well and traded wins with Apple Juice throughout the summer.

Deja Vu Babyboo turned in a track record performance while taking her freshman mark of 1:54 on July 20. She posted 4 wins, 5 seconds and one third in ten outings and banked a total of $67,258 for the year.

Deja Vu Babyboo is owned by her breeder Van Otterloo Stables and trained by Robert Lems. Her regular pilot was Dean Magee.

The Champion freshman colt pacer award goes to El Parrandero Q, a homebred for breeder Fabiola Quevedo and owner Triple Q Stables.

El Parrandero Q dominated the division early in the season, and racked up enough earnings to be uncatchable going into the final weeks of the season. He won 5 races from 12 Aces starts and took a mark of 1:56.1 on August 17. He posted total earnings of $57,710 for the year.

Edwin Quevedo is the trainer for El Parrandero Q and his regular pilot was Jacob Cutting.

The Runner-Up freshman colt pacer award winner is Fast Larry, who dominated his division in the final weeks of the 2023 season. He was second by a neck in his first career start on August 24, and then won his final four Aces starts, taking a mark of 1:54.4 on Night of Champions.

Fast Larry closed out his freshman campaign with a total of 4 wins from 5 starts and total earnings of $56,500 for owner Gary Carlson. He was prepped for the season by Rick Lancaster and then trained and driven by Brady Jenson thereafter.

Stay tuned over the next few days as the sophomore and aged divisional winners will be announced with press releases this week.

Following 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