Finalists Announced for Maryland End-of-Year Awards

The Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association announced the 2024 finalists for various horsemen and horse awards that will be presented as part of this year’s Renaissance Awards dinner, which will be scheduled for this spring.

The Renaissance Awards honor the top owner, trainer, jockey, and breeder of the previous year in Maryland, as well as Maryland-bred horses in various categories and other awards for horses that have competed with distinction at Maryland tracks but may not be Maryland-bred.

The MTHA awards process is as follows: A slate of candidates for each category is prepared by several individuals with knowledge of day-to-day racing in the state and through statistics compiled by Equibase. The horsemen categories are Owner, Trainer and Jockey, while the equine categories are Dirt Male, Dirt Female, Turf Male, Turf Female and Claimer of the Year.

The candidates are submitted to the MTHA Board of Directors, and each member then votes for their top three choices in each category. The MTHA, beginning with the 2022 racing season, added the five equine categories to the overall Renaissance Awards program.

Two Groom of the Year awards, winners of which are selected by MTHA staff after trainers are solicited for nominees, also are part of the Renaissance Awards program.

Based upon discussions by organizers during a Feb. 3 meeting, the Renaissance Awards dinner will be held the third week of April, as it was last year, most likely in the clubhouse at Laurel Park. Details on the event will be announced at a later date.

The following are the finalists for the three human awards and five equine awards.

Owner of the Year

Hillwood Stable

Mens Grille Racing

No Guts No Glory Farm

Trainer of the Year

Brittany T. Russell

Gary Capuano

John J. Robb

Michael J. Trombetta

Jockey of the Year

Jaime Rodriguez

J.G. Torrealba

Sheldon Russell

Claimer of the Year

Band Camp

No Easy Days

Suga Steve