HARRISBURG PA – Two of harness racing’s most dynamic young achievers, driver Braxten Boyd and communicator John Rallis, have been selected in voting to receive Dan Patch Awards by the United States Harness Writers Association, which also recognizes two of the sport’s “favorite” people of a slightly more experienced age: driver Wally Hennessey and horse sales hospitality manager Lillie Brown.
Braxten Boyd, 25, has been selected for the Rising Star Award, which is given to a developing rider age 30 or younger. Braxten entered the sport in his native Michigan, following in the footsteps of his father Brett, an accomplished rider and one of the most influential people in the state’s harness politics, but he has quickly found his own clever path. In 2025, Boyd will have his best winning year ever and is neck-and-neck for $5 million in cash winnings, and at the time of writing he was four wins shy of last year’s lifetime best of 337 wins in a year.
Boyd was the leading driver at Tioga Downs the past two years, and at his base track in Pocono he was fifth in the standings – no small feat when the four veterans above him have made a combined 29,587 trips to Victory Lane. But Boyd captured this year’s prize in large part due to his recent ability to raise his game and race well in top-tier company, such as in 2025 with sophomore pacer Madden Oaks, who placed first in the $656,000 Meadowlands Pace and had a desperate lead over sophomore leader Louprint in the $740,000 North America Cup. He also rode Black Gold to victory in a 2024 Indiana Super Final, with the horse paying $260.20 for a $2 win ticket.
Boyd and Madden Oaks were joined at this year’s showcase events and many other top races in North America by 30-year-old John Rallis, winner of the Breakthrough Award, the frontside equivalent of the Rising Star. A fan of harnesses since childhood, Rallis regularly provides pre- and post-race analysis for Woodbine Mohawk, along with notable reporting on The Meadowlands, The Red Mile, Scioto, the USTA and Daily Racing Form, and he is an associate editor for TROT magazine.
From the beginning, the well-traveled Rallis spent many hours doing whatever analysis and background research he could in preparation for a broadcast, especially watching reruns. He combines sharp handicapping, informed and engaging storytelling and sharp interviews to give his viewers the most information they can need to inform their own opinions about the race.
Like Proximity Award winner Bill O’Donnell, Good Guy Award winner Wally Hennessey was born in Maritime Canada, and like O’Donnell, he first made his American mark at Saratoga Harness. Hennessey has won many titles at both the Central New York circuit and Pompano Park in late Florida, and he is tenth on the all-time winningest driver list with 12,103 victories, while winning 21.3% of his starts and not having a year-end UDR below .300 in 24 years.
But as would benefit a Good Guy Award winner, it is Hennessey’s friendly, easy-going friendliness and willingness to work together for the good of racing and his fans that has made him a standout favorite among patrons and riders alike – as his nominating biography said, “There is never a time when he visits Wally Hennessey that he doesn’t have a smile on his face and a cheery hello to greet you.” When Steven Tyler of the rock group Aerosmith once visited Pompano, it was Hennessey who was there with a horse, a sulky – and a smile.
Always greeting people with a smile and warm friendliness, Lillie Brown worked in The Meadowlands publicity office before joining Preferred Equine Marketing, which was the perfect setting for the talents that would help her win the USHWA’s Unsung Hero Award.
At all major sales, she was referred to as the “heart and soul” of the Preferred Equine sales office, providing all kinds of services to customers and prospects in need of assistance. She always did this in a winning way and with a natural conversation style with people from all walks of racing life. ‘An army runs on its stomach’, it is said, and Lillie showed her talents in this area too, helping the ‘troops’ at a sale through tiring hours with her excellent skills as a saleswoman. barista. Now retired from the sales office but still working in the hospitality sales field, Lillie Brown is the only one of the 2025 USHWA award winners to have a voter put an exclamation point after her name to show how much she is appreciated – in fact, her name appeared as Lillie Brown! twice!
Boyd, Brown, Hennessey and Rallis will all be recognized at the 2026 Dan Patch Awards Banquet presented by Caesars Entertainment, which will honor the best of the best in harness racing, both human and equine. The banquet will be held on Sunday, February 22, 2026 at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort in Orlando, Florida. Sponsor information for the banquet can be obtained from Shawn Wiles at [email protected]; You can advertise in the souvenir journal via Kim Rinker [email protected]; tickets via Judy Davis-Wilson, [email protected]; for room reservations, click here hotellink. More information about the banquet and associated USHWA meetings that weekend will be available soon at www.usharnesswriters.com.
The United States Harness Writers Association is the leading group of communicators on the Standardbred horse field. USHWA conducts the official annual voting for the sport’s most prestigious honors: induction into the Hall of Fame and Communicators Hall of Fame, along with the selection of the Horse of the Year, Trotter and Pacer of the Year, and each season’s leading division horses. Each year, USHWA hosts the Dan Patch Awards Banquet, honoring the best and brightest performers in North American harness racing. This banquet is the association’s primary source of funding, and with generous financial support from the harness racing and breeding industries, USHWA is able to host the banquet in a world-class manner in a world-class facility.
From the Harness Writers Association of the United States
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