Jan 20, 2026 By John Sacco 4 min read

Getting awards does not get old for Roger Huston.

His most recent award has special meaning, however.

The Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Association awarded the prestigious Maynard and Stella Hagemeyer Significant Contribution Award to Huston for 2025.

Inducted into the Ohio Harness Racing Hall of Fame in 2001, Huston is arguably the sport’s foremost race-caller and has long been known as “The Voice of The Meadows.”

The Maynard and Stella Hagemeyer Significant Contribution Award is given to an individual for significant lifelong contributions to Ohio harness racing. The award is based on the importance of educating and involving local and state legislators in the preservation and promotion of the harness racing industry.

“What made this one extra special was when I started in 1960 and working counting fairs, the woman who the award is named – Maynard and Stella Hagermeyer – Stella was the clerk of almost every fair that I worked,” Huston, 83, explained.

“It was an all-new experience for me. I hadn’t worked in the judges’ stand or the race office. So, I would go in early and watch what she was doing and before long I was helping her take scratches and driver changes and you name it. We were very close for all those years we spent at the fairs.”

Huston, who is in his 67th year as a track announcer has called races all over the world with more than 184,840 to date. He has served as the announcer for the Little Brown Jug at the Delaware County Fair for 58 years. And as track announcer at The Meadows.

“I have never worked a day in my life,” Huston said. “Every race is the most important race in harness racing for that owner, driver, trainer, and caretaker. I have been criticized that I call every race like it’s the Jug, but any given race may be as close to racing in the Jug that the connections have, so they deserve the best of me.”

Huston said he will maintain the same schedule this year as he did in 2025.

“You know, one would think after so many (awards) that, you become (used) to them, but each one is so special and it brings back so many memories,” Huston said. “Whether it be a Hall of Fame from upstate New York or Ohio, or the Little Brown Jug Wall of fame, all of those, each one of them, has a special memory. And believe me, I’ve got a lot of special memories over 67 years.”

Huston was honored at the Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Association Annual Awards Banquet on Jan. 10 at the Renaissance Columbus-Westerville in Westerville, Ohio.

Down the stretch

Sippinonsearoc, a Breeders Crown champion who has since being standing at stud, won divisional honors for a second consecutive season in Ohio being named as the 2025 three-year old Pacing Colt of the Year. The son of Downbytheseaside out of Queen Ann M recorded seven wins, two seconds, and three thirds and banking $792,375 in 15 starts to surpass $1 million in career earnings in 2025. He won the $600,000 Breeders Crown at Woodbine Mohawk Park Oct. 25 in a stakes-record and lifetime-best 1:47.3 on top of taking the $400,000 Kentucky Championship Series final and the $100,000 fifth leg of the Ohio Sires Stakes. Trainer Ron Burke, Canonsburg, believes the horse may have had even more success if not for some talented stablemates.

“There’s no telling what that horse would’ve done if not for other horses from my own barn,” Burke said. “Every time he got beat, it was by a horse from my barn. He’s really a top-notch horse.”

• All U.S. harness racing economic indicators across the board declined in 2025 compared with 2024, according to the United States Trotting Association. While race days declined by 2.51 percent, wagering slid by more than eight percent and purses were down 1.73 percent.

Total wagering for the year was $1,351,161, an 8.10% decrease and $119,114,666 less than the $1,470,658,827 wagered in 2024. In 2025, $483,239,570 was distributed in purses in 33,412 races over 3,070 race days, 8,848,920 less than in 2024 when purses totaled $491,734,389 for 34,583 wagering races.

There were 3,149 race days in 2024, 79 more than 2025, a 2.51 percent decrease. The amount wagered per betting interest decreased by 4.11 percent last year compared with 2024. Last year, the average was $5,226, $79 less than the $5,456 from the year before.

The information includes U.S. and Canadian common and separate pool wagers on races contested in the U.S.

• According to Michael Carter, director of racing at The Meadows, the track’s handle for 2025 was $89,657,330.

In addition, Post No. 5 remains the winningest post at the North Strabane Township track. Post 5 produced 417 wins in 2,088 races – nearly a 20 percent victory rate.