Dexter Dunn and Noel Daley, as expected, were comfortably selected Dan Patch Award winners for 2024 Driver and Trainer of the Year, in recent voting conducted by the United States Harness Writers Association (USHWA). It’s never much of a surprise when the Burke Racing / Weaver Bruscemi partnership is among the finalists for Owner of the Year, either, and they did win as well – but their margin of victory was as narrow as it could be.
In his first four full years of driving in North America, 35-year-old Dexter Dunn, a New Zealand native and a many-time champion Down Under, put on such a spectacular show that he won the Driver of the Year Award in the balloting four consecutive times (2019-2022). Last year Dunn yielded his crown to Scott Zeron (while still posting a $10M+ campaign, his fifth straight), but he went right back to the championship position in 2024, putting up personal marks in money won ($16.6M) and UDR (.347).
Dunn was “in the conversation” but by no means assured of an award up until October 25-26, when the Breeders Crown Championships were held at The Meadowlands. That weekend Dexter won an unprecedented six Crowns, driving Twin B Joe Fresh, Abuckabett Hanover, Miki And Minnie, My Girl EJ, Winner’s Bet, and Mirage Hanover – the first five of whom went on to be 2024 divisional Dan Patch champions.
Dunn followed up on November 30, Final Four / Fan Duel Championship Night at the Jersey miler, with five wins, repeating with the first three horses listed above and also visiting Victory Lane with Nelsonbriteagle NO and Captain Optimistic in the eight finales held that evening. Add divisional trotting champs Maryland, Champagne Problems, and Jiggy Jog S, and Dunn had the best seat in the house behind eight of the twelve Dan Patch honorees.
Trainer Noel Daley earned his first Glen Garnsey Trainer of the Year in 2024, which is appropriate because the 63-year-old trainer from Australia posted his best-ever total in stable earnings, over $4.8 million, earning himself a spot in the North American Top Ten.
2024 saw Daley join a group of three other highly-regarded trainers who since 1986 have harnessed a Triple Crown winner on both gaits in a single year, joining the ranks of Tony Alagna (2020), Ron Burke (2017), and Jimmy Takter (2009 and 2014). The two horses in question were pacer Captain Albano (Little Brown Jug) and trotter Sig Sauer (Kentucky Futurity), who each were voted the colt champions on their respective gaits, and both of whom ranked in the top half-dozen in the final Top Ten Horses poll. (The horses also shared a common ownership partner, about which more follows directly).
In the Norman Woolworth Owner of the Year category, the ubiquitous pairing of Burke Racing Stable LLC / Weaver Bruscemi LLC (Sylvia Burke, trainer Ron Burke’s mother, with Michael Bruscemi and Mark Weaver), with hundreds of horses including many stakes winners racing at dozens of tracks, beat out Patricia Stable, named after owner Harvey Fried’s wife, by a “nose” – a single vote, despite Patricia Stable having ownership in only fourteen horses. Two of the Patricia horses were Dan Patch divisional champions Captain Albano and Sig Sauer (both Noel Daley trainees), but Burke / Weaver Bruscemi also had two champions in Louprint and My Girl EJ (sold before her final race of the year), and their quality combined with quantity carried the day.
Burke / Weaver Bruscemi without partners were the #1 stable in North American harness racing in 2024, with over $5.2 million in the bank as the season ends from 367 victories and sixteen six-figure earners. They also owned five other $500G+ winners in partnerships, with “B/ WB” involved in three $1M-earning entities in the Top Twenty … plus four more which earned $500G+ … plus six others which earned $400G+ … and the list goes on. This Owner trophy will join the two other USHWA titles that Burke / Weaver Bruscemi were voted in 2013 and 2018.
The winners will be recognized at the 2024 Dan Patch Awards Banquet, presented by Caesars Entertainment, which will honor the best of the best of harness racing, both human and equine. The Banquet will be held on Sunday, February 23, 2025 at the Rosen Centre in Orlando, Florida. Sponsorship information for the Banquet can be obtained from Shawn Wiles at swiles@rwcatskills.com; advertising in the souvenir Journal can be arranged through Kim Rinker at trotrink@aol.com; tickets through Judy Davis-Wilson, zoe8874@aol.com; for room reservations and room reservations visit www.usharnesswriters.com.
The United States Harness Writers Association is the leading group of communicators about the Standardbred horse. USHWA conducts the official annual balloting for the sport’s most prestigious honors: induction to the Hall of Fame and Communicators Hall of Fame, along with the selection of the Horse of the Year, Trotter and Pacer of the Year, and the leading divisional horses of each season. Each year USHWA hosts the Dan Patch Awards Banquet, honoring the best and brightest performers in North American harness racing. This banquet is the Association’s principal source of funding, and with generous financial support from the harness racing and breeding industry, USHWA is able to host the banquet at a world-class facility in a world-class manner.
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