15 October 2014
The Hunter Valley Harness Racing Awards night was held last Saturday at the Hexham Bowling Club recognizing the areas high achievers together with contribution and service awards.
Shane Tritton dominated the trainer premierships while Lauren Panella replicated it in the drivers titles.
Tritton was successful in his fifth consecutive Newcastle and Garrards Horse & Hound Hunter Valley trainers premierships with 96 and 103 wins respectively.
Panella recorded her first Newcastle and Garrards Horse & Hound Hunter Valley drivers premierships with 62 and 68 wins respectively after last year taking the junior driver title.
Panella was awarded leading hunter valley lady driver by the Robin Dundee Club who also acknowledged the achievements of Margot Lennox for the fourth time as leading hunter valley lady trainer.
The coveted NBN Television Newcastle Horse of the Year was decided between Ultimate Art, Marty Monkhouser and Mach Beauty with Mach Beauty being awarded the prize.
Mach Beauty’s achievements during the season included an Inter Dominion Heat win, placings in the Sunshine Sprint, The Blacks A Fake and the Newcastle Mile together with competing in the Inter Dominion Grand Final and Miracle Mile.
The Mathew Jenkins Encouragement Award was presented to Daniel Morgan.
Morgan has been licensed for only a few years but has established himself well as a junior driver in the area. Morgan who started in the mini trots and then progressed to maxi trots has seamlessly moved into the open ranks.
Contribution and service recognition awards were awarded across a cross section of the industry.
The NSW Standardbred Owners Association awarded owner of the year to David Carpenter.
Over many years Carpenter has been involved in ownership as an individual, with partners and as a syndicate. The season just past has been one of the best for Carpenter as an owner.
Eric McGuaghey was awarded the Ros Falconer Memorial Award in recognition of his years of service to the industry as an administrator but more recently for his voluntary efforts in running the trainers and drivers supper room at Newcastle Paceway.
The feature award of the evening is the announcement of the Dick Osborn Medal recipient.
This award acknowledges achievement and service to the Hunter Valley harness racing industry and the 2014 winners was Mark Callaghan.
Callaghan has been involved in the sport for a number of years and recalled Osborn was the trial supervisor of the time who signed off on his trial drives to gain a license.
Callaghan is a respected competitor on the track with a handy stable behind him at the moment.
Off the track his family plays a role in the harness racing industry regularly attending race meetings together with helping out around the stables.
Other awards on the night were presented by the Hunter Valley Harness Racing Association.
The HVHRA awards are members based recognizing achievement across the hunter valley tracks.
The association conduct a point score based premiership that is then broken into number of starters categories for a season while horse awards are categorized into 2YO, 3YO, 4YO & Older and Open.
A full list of award winners is listed below.
Awards presented by
Hunter Valley Harness Racing Association
Trainers Premiership
Up to 25 Starters Dean Chapple
26 to 50 Starters Barry Matterson
51 to 100 Starters Margot Lennox
101 or more Starters Shane Tritton
Drivers Premiership
Up to 25 Starters Peter Sellers
26 to 50 Starters = Geoff Dorn
= Rex Spencer
51 to 100 Starters Aaron Garaty
101 or more Starters Michael Formosa
Under 23 Drivers Premiership
Lauren Panella
Concession Drivers Premiership
Polly Downing
Two Year Old Horse of the Year
Exterminate Owned by: P J Witcom
Three Year Old Horse of the Year
Tiz A Smokey Owned by: P J Witcom
Four Year Old & Over Horse of the Year
= Ultimate Trump Owned by: K E Formosa
= Dan Owned by: M V Lennox, R Aylward
Open Horse of the Year
Ultimate Art Owned by: K E Formosa
Awards presented by
NSW Standardbred Owners Association
David Carpenter