Confederate named 2023 Harness Horse of the Year

After winning 13 of his 15 starts, $1.633 million in purses and a harness racing world record mile of 1:46.1, Confederate (Sweet Lou – Geothermal – A Rocknroll Dance) was named the 2023 Harness Horse of the Year by the United States Harness Writers Association Sunday evening at the annual Dan Patch Awards banquet held at the Rosen Centre in Orlando, Fla.

The pacing star was trained by Brett Pelling and driven exclusively by Hall of Famer Tim Tetrick. Confederate was bred by Diamond Creek Farm of Wellsville, PA and was owned by Diamond Creek Racing, which morphed into the Confederate Syndicate. The voting was 112 of the 129 votes cast for Confederate. Tactical Approach received seven first-place votes.

During this three-year-old season, Confederate won the Breeders Crown Final, the Meadowlands Pace, Cane Pace, Matron Pace, Hempt Memorial, Bluegrass Pace and Tattersalls Pace.

He has already begun his four-year-old season as a stallion at Diamond Creek Farm in Pennsylvania at a fee of $20,000. Confederate was also named 2023 Pacer of the Year and Three-Year-Old Colt Pacer of the Year.

“I asked the question the other day to my group, do you think that he was that much better than everybody else, or do you think he just liked to win?” Diamond Creek’s Adam Bowden said. “And I think he was just that much better than everybody else talent-wise. I don’t even know if we figured out if he liked to win or not because he was just that much better than everybody else. I think that was the difference.

 “I think I kind of knew that early on. He was just different than the other horses. I don’t know how to describe it, other than it was a feeling.”

Tactical Approach (Tactical Landing – Sarcy – Donato Hanover), winner of The Hambletonian, Kentucky Futurity, and the Breeders Crown, was named the 2023 Trotter of the Year.

A winner in 10 of 19 starts and earnings of $1.5 million, Tactical Approach was trained by Nancy Takter and driven by Scott Zeron. He was bred by Steve Stewart and Oakwood Farms and owned by Robert Leblanc, John Fielding, Joe Sbrocco, and JAF Racing.

Now owned by the Tactical Approach Syndicate, the stallion has begun his 2024 season standing stud at Diamond Creek Farm in PA for a stud fee of $12,500.

Also recognized at the banquet were the members of the 2024 Hall of Fame class, which will be inducted on July 7 in Goshen, N.Y.: Jim Campbell, Ed Lohmeyer, and David McDuffee, as well as communicators Tim Bojarski and the late Dave Brower.

A complete list of winners can be found here on the U.S. Harness Writers Association’s website. For complete Horse of the Year, Pacer of the Year, and Trotter of the Year vote totals, click here.

by Steve Wolf, for Harnesslink