OHHA to present 2025 Special Recognition Awards

Grove City, Ohio – The Ohio-based connections of 2025 Breeders Crown champions Always B Naughty, Miki And Minnie, and Sippinonsearoc will be presented Special Recognition Awards at the Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Association Annual Awards Banquet.

Always B Naughty was the Breeders Crown champion in the Open Mare Pace, scoring a victory for Ohio three times over with driver Austin Hanners (Frankfort), trainer Todd Luther (Commercial Point), and owner Greg Luther Racing (Blacklick). The 5-year-old Always B Miki mare won by five lengths in 1:48.1, setting a new stakes record while giving Hanners, Todd Luther, and Greg Luther their first-ever Breeders Crown titles. She closed 2025 with six wins while earning $289,583 in 23 starts. She has 18 career victories and earnings of $901,212.

Bred and owned in part by Bob Mondillo, of Delaware, Ohio, Miki And Minnie scored a second straight Breeders Crown title in 2025, doing so in the 3-Year-Old Filly Pace division in a dead heat with The Last Martini in 1:49.2. It was just the second time in the 41-year history of the Breeders Crown that there was a dead heat for win.

The Always B Miki filly gave Mondillo his first Breeders Crown trophy in 2024, and she became the 57th horse, and 27th pacer, to win two Breeders Crown titles. She hit the board in all 15 starts in 2025, recording 13 wins and two seconds to go with $1,123,824 in earnings en route to being named the Dan Patch 3-Year-Old Filly Pacer of the Year by the U.S. Harness Writers Association. She has hit the board in all 26 career starts with 19 wins and earnings of $1,957,910.

Sippinonsearoc was the lone Ohio-bred to win a Breeders Crown title in 2025, taking the 3-Year-Old Colt Pace in a stakes-record 1:47.3. The Downbytheseaside colt has several connections to the Buckeye State. He was co-bred by Alesha Binkley (Lebanon) and is owned in part by RAS Racing (Powell) and Knox Services (Mt. Vernon). He hit the board in 12 of 15 starts in 2025, recording seven victories and bankrolling $792,375. He has 13 career wins and $1,360,375 in earnings.

The recipients of the Special Recognition Award, honored for their contributions to the betterment of harness racing in Ohio, will be recognized at the Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Association Annual Awards Banquet on Jan. 10 at the Renaissance Columbus-Westerville in Westerville, Ohio.

From Wes Mayberry for the Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Association