Sugar Instead had a season that dreams are made of. An $11,000 auction purchase, Sugar Instead rose to be queen of the freshman Ohio filly trotters as she was named the 2023 Two-Year-Old Ohio Trotting Filly of the Year.
Purchased by Susan Sickle at the Blooded Horse Sale from breeder Elmer Miller, Sugar Instead was sold to Joyce McClelland and Larry Wills before her first start. She won seven of 11 races. The only race she did not hit the board was the Breeders Crown final when she made a break around the final turn.
“We couldn’t be happier with the year she had,” said trainer Virgil Morgan Jr. “I really thought she had a shot in the Breeders Crown. She had trot, the earplugs were in and that would have been a tremendous year.”
The daughter of Volstead was the only horse to win all five legs of the Ohio Sires Stakes. She dominated the Ohio Sires Stakes Scarlet Championship with a track record performance and won the Ohio State Fair Stakes as she earned $373,925 in 2023.
Sugar Instead will be honoured at the Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Association Annual Awards Banquet on Jan. 13, 2024 at the Mariott Columbus OSU in Columbus, Ohio. Tickets to the banquet are $30 each and can be purchased by calling the association's office at 614-221-3650.
The 2023 Ohio Horse of the Year will be announced at the annual awards banquet.
(Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Association)