Ontario Racing Hosts the 2021 Media Excellence Awards

In a collaboration with Standardbred Canada, Ontario Racing is once again preparing to sponsor the Media Excellence Awards at the 2021 O’Brien Awards Virtual Gala. Standardbred Canada also informs that the deadline for the submissions of all applicants is set to November 30, 2021, at 5 p.m. EST. Full details can be found on its official website.

The Media Excellence Awards will once more come with three award categories – Outstanding Written Work, Outstanding Video, Film or Broadcast, and Outstanding Photograph. This year’s running will be the sixth in a row where Ontario Racing has partnered with Standardbred Canada to sponsor the event, which honors individuals who have captured an exceptional piece of work from the horse racing industry.

Picking a Winner

Standardbred Canada informs that in order for submissions to enter into consideration for the awards, they must relate to some aspect of the Canadian Standardbred racing industry. For this year’s editions, entries must have been published or broadcasted for the first time between November 1, 2020, and October 31, 2021.

Participants must also know that their broadcasts submissions will be no longer than 15 minutes in length. If the video is longer, the participant must provide a 15-minute-long excerpt of it. Additionally, all entrants must provide a cover letter with their name and address along with the location and the date of publication of their article or video related to the industry.

During the summer, Standardbred Canada has also made some changes to the O’Brien Award of Horsemanship. A motion that changes some of the conditions and details that determine the winner has been approved by the organization’s Board of Directors.

New Member to the CA$70-Million Club

Last week, Standardbred Canada also reported that Ontario harness racing driver Trevor Henry is now a member of the CA$70-million club. During last weekend’s snowy races at the Woodbine Mohawk Park, he managed to reach the amount by securing a third with Rockme Rollme in Race 4, a second-place with My Only Sunshine in Race 6, a third with Okie From Muskogee in Race 7, and a second with Chantee in Race 8.

After that, he was short of only CA$1,000 but a fifth-place finish in Race 10 with Lauras Love boosted him of the CA$70-million mark. Mr. Henry is now seventh in the driver standings at Woodbine Mohawk Park for 2021, with 110 wins. During his lengthy career, the driver has won the stunning amount of over 7,000 races, while consistently scoring multi-million winnings per year.

Guests Limits Removed

In October, the horse racing industry of Ontario witnessed some exciting changes to its health and safety protocols. The Government of Ontario allowed the province’s tracks to welcome visitors at 100 percent capacity by removing the limit of 20,000 individuals at outdoor events. Christine Elliott, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health explained that the ease of restrictions was due to the increasing rate of vaccination.

Source: “Ontario Racing Sponsors Media Awards”, Standardbred Canada, November 26, 2021