Standardbredcanada.ca
January 31, 2009

It was one big ‘beach’ party at the O’Brien Awards, Canada’s national harness racing awards on Saturday night as world champion pacer, Somebeachsomewhere and his connections took home four of the evening’s trophies.

The O’Brien Awards are named for the late Hall of Famer Joe O’Brien and recognize the horses and people who have made the greatest contribution to Canadian harness racing over the past season.

Somebeachsomewhere who was the unanimous choice for Three-Year-Old Pacing Colt of the Year, was also honoured as the 2008 recipient of the Cam Fella Award, and to put the icing on the cake was the voters’ unanimous choice as Canada’s Horse of the Year, marking the second consecutive year he was voted Canada’s Horse of the Year, the first time in O’Brien history that this has happened.

READ MORE: ‘Beach Party’ At O’Brien Awards | Standardbred Canada.

February 19, 2009
DAVE BRIGGS

One of harness racing’s chief problems compared with other sports is the fact its biggest stars aren’t around long enough to draw any serious fan interest. By stars, of course, we’re talking about the horses.

The best male horses can earn much more as stallions than they can by winning even the richest races.

Take recently retired Somebeachsomewhere, for example. He will breed approximately 150 horses this year at $20,000 apiece, meaning he could earn as much as $3 million as a stallion.

Even practically running the table in his three-year-old racing season — the most lucrative of all the racing years — The Beach earned just over $2.5 million and that was a single-season earnings record.

READ MORE: GuelphMercury.com – Sports – Harness needs stars to keep on shining.