Hi, this is Fred Wallace with ” Off the Wire “, brought to you by Hal Wright Chevrolet-Cadillac-GMC-Buick on the Sunset Strip in Owen Sound.
2 days before Christmas and somewhat of an early present popped up in the last couple of days.
Truthfully, it’s not so much a present, but rather the potential of a nice reward for achieving success.
Standardbred Canada announced the finalists for the 2013 O’Brien Awards and a pair of McNairs with Walkerton roots are among those in contention.
Greg McNair, who now resides in Guelph, is up for Trainer of the Year .
At the time of the announcement, McNair Sr, was second in the Canadian Trainer earnings standings.
For the O’Brien award, McNair who obviously has strong connections at Hanover Raceway will be up against Richard Moreau who also made a significant splash during stops this summer at Hanover, a prominent trainer winning races at what’s termed a ” B ” track.
Meanwhile, the other McNair in contention for an O’Brien Award is McNair Junior, 24 year old Doug McNair.
As of last week, McNair had 292 victories to his credit and had generated $ 5.6 million dollars in earnings.
That’s a great year.
Doug McNair’s competition for the O’Brien will be the defending award winner, Sylvain Filion.
Filion who is currently the leading money winning driver on the Woodbine Entertainment Group circuit, has earning over $5 million between Mohawk and Woodbine.
The awards presentation are set for early in 2014 in Eastern Canada.
Whoever wins the O’Brien awards will be the best of the best in the harness racing industry for 2013, although there’s always room for debate.
Still, for the McNairs, and for their fans and followers, this was among the neatest early Christmas gifts
I’m Fred Wallace