Manchego — bred, raised and sold as a yearling by Brittany Farms — won the third Dan Patch Award of her career when yesterday the U.S. Harness Writers Association announced her as the “Older Trotting Mare of the Year.”

 

The $3 million-plus earner and multiple World Champion won the Dan Patch for 2-year-old trotting fillies after going 12 for 12 in her freshman season, and won last year’s award for older trotting mares after an outstanding 5-year-old campaign.

 

Brittany congratulates her owner Barry Guariglia’s Black Horse Racing and trainer Nancy Takter for the accomplishment, and thanks them for keeping the great mare in competition this past season for all to enjoy.

 

Before her retirement to the broodmare ranks in October, Manchego won six of nine 2021 starts and $421,596. She defeated male rivals in the John Cashman Memorial on Hambletonian Day — her second win in that event — and was also victorious in the Spirit of Massachusetts (also for the second time), Arthur Cutler Memorial, and Maxie Lee Memorial.

 

Her 1:49.4 victory at the Meadowlands in a preliminary round of the Miss Versatility Series made her the first trotter in history to win with a sub-1:50 mile in three different years.

 

The daughter of Muscle Hill-Secret Magic retired as the fastest trotting filly or mare in history with a mark of 1:49, which was equaled later this year by her great rival, Atlanta. She also holds the world record on a 5/8-mile track (1:49.3f) and was the fastest trotter — regardless of gender — of both the 2019 (1:49) and 2020 (1:49.3f) racing seasons.

 

In addition to the classic Hambletonian Oaks, Manchego holds three Breeders Crown titles among her plethora of career accomplishments.

 

To read more about one of the greatest trotting mares in history, visit her page in the Brittany Farms “Hall of Fame.”