Jamieson named a finalist for O’Brien award
Posted December 21, 2011 3:21 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
THE CANADIAN PRESS
Driver Jody Jamieson has a chance to put an exclamation mark on an outstanding season.
The 35-year-old from Moffat, Ont., was named a finalist as Canada’s top driver, Standardbred Canada announced Wednesday. The O’Brien award winners will be announced at a banquet Jan. 28.
Jamieson, a two-time award winner, led all Canadian harness drivers with over US$11.4 million in earnings. He captured 461 victories, including his second career North America Cup, and secured his second world driving title.
Randy Waples and Scott Zeron are the other finalists.
The 46-year-old Waples, a three-time O’Brien winner from Milton, Ont., registered 221 wins and over $8.5 million in earnings. Zeron, a 22-year-old resident of Oakville, Ont., tops the charts for Canadian drivers in dash wins with 536 and earned more than $8.1 million in purses.
First-time nominees Jeff Gillis and Tony O’Sullivan are in the running for the top trainer award.
Gillis, a 34-year-old from Hillsburgh, Ont., conditioned 108 winners and amassed over $3.8 million in earnings. The 35-year-old O’Sullivan, who is from Cambridge, Ont., trained 120 winners and registered over $3.8 million in prize money.
Keith Clark, 58, of DeWinton, Alta., will attempt to secure his second O’Brien award for horsemanship, having also won it in 2004. The 2009 inductee into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame surpassed $1 million in earnings as a trainer for the sixth straight year while also earning 164 victories as a driver.
Marc Campbell, from Winsloe, P.E.I., is a first-time finalist for the award. The 27-year-old has driven 172 winners while conditioning 56 winners.
There’s no mystery regarding the winner of the older trotting horse award. That will go to Canadian-owned and Canadian-bred San Pail, which was a unanimous selection on the 61 ballots cast.
San Pain earned 14 wins in 16 races and over $1.2 million. He registered 11 of those wins and over $934,000 in earnings in Canada between Mohawk and Woodbine racetracks.
