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For Immediate Release: December 21, 2011
Contact: Lynne Richmond 
(609) 633-2954

(TRENTON) – New Jersey Secretary of Agriculture Douglas Fisher today announced the 2011 Secretary of Agriculture Awards for New Jersey Thoroughbred and Standardbred Horses of the Year.

The horses were chosen by the New Jersey Equine Advisory Board, through recommendations from the Thoroughbred and Standardbred Associations.

New Jersey Thoroughbred Horse of the Year: Hermosillo Owned by Kenwood Racing LLC and trained by Stephen DiMauro, the seven-year-old son of Sea of Secrets was bred in New Jersey by Ed Broome.  Hermosillo was a winner of five of his 12 starts in 2011, starting the year winning consecutive races at Aqueduct in February and March.  In September and October, he had a three-race winning streak, taking the first place $100,000 prize in the Charles Hesse Handicap for the second time in three years, defeating the best New Jersey-breds in training. He then defeated eventual Breeder’s Cup Marathon winner, Afleet, again and capped off the win streak in a one-mile allowance race over another stellar field.  Hermosillo finished the year with $228,370 in earnings, bringing his career total to $618,371.

New Jersey Standardbred Horse of the Year:  Roll With Joe.  The son of Cam’s Card Shark-Classic Wish retired after his November 12 victory in the Messenger Stakes with a career record of eight wins, six seconds and three thirds in 23 starts and earnings of $1,805,102.  This year, he won the $1 million Meadowlands Pace, the $500,000 Battle of Brandywine at Chester and $401,000 Messenger at Yonkers and had two second-place stakes finishes, all with driver Ron Pierce Roll With Joe was trained by Edward Hart and is owned by Thomas Grossman and Michael Kimelman of Blue Chip Bloodstock; Stephen Demeter; Sheila Baird and Scott Kimelman of Not to Worry Stable; and his breeders, Joe and Joann Thomson of Winbak Farm in Chesapeake City, MD.

The New Jersey Department of Agriculture will honor Hermosillo and Roll With Joe at the Equine Advisory Board’s 55th annual Breeders’ Luncheon on Sunday, January 15, 2012 at Charley’s Other Brother restaurant in Eastampton.  For tickets, contact Debra Moscatiello at 609-984-4389 or debra.moscatiello@ag.state.nj.us.

Also at the luncheon, the Governor’s Award for Horseperson of the Year, Equestrian of the Year, Superior Achievement Awards, New Jersey Sire Stakes Awards, the State Board of Agriculture Breeder of the Year Award, Sara Dubinin Scholarship recipient and New Jersey Agricultural Achievement recipient will be announced.

The state’s equine industry is valued at $4 billion and generates $1.1 billion annually in positive impact to the state’s economy.  A Rutgers Equine Science Center study showed there are 7,200 equine facilities on 176,000 acres and 42,500 equine animals in New Jersey.