The winners will be announced at the annual O'Brien Awards Banquet on Saturday, January 30, 2010.

For the first time in the history of the O'Brien Awards, two females are nominated in the Trainer of the Year category. Casie Coleman and Tracy Brainard are at the top of the Canadian training charts for 2009, and between the two have amassed over C$10.2 million in earnings while conditioning some of the sport's top performers.

Coleman, 29, of Cambridge, Ontario, is looking to take home her third title as Canada's trainer of the year following another outstanding season. To date, she sits fourth in the wins column in Canada for trainers with 161 victories and is second in Canada with C$4.3 million in earnings. Coleman's stable star, Sportswriter, is one of the nominees for 2-year-old pacing colt honors and contributed to Coleman's stellar year.

Brainard, 33, of DeLeon Springs, Florida, is the other nominee in the trainer category. Brainard's stable topped the Canadian earnings charts in 2009 with C$5.8 million in purse money while sending out 131 winners. Brainard has three horses nominated for O'Brien honors. She's guaranteed the trophy in the 3-year-old pacing filly category, as she conditions both nominees, Not Enough and Yellow Diamond. Her third horse nominated is If I Can Dream in the 3-year-old pacing colt category.

Fresh off of breaking the Canadian win record, driver Jody Jamieson is looking to take home his second O'Brien trophy as Canada's top reinsman. He's up against National Driving Champion and Canada's representative to the 2009 World Driving Championship, Brad Forward.

Jamieson, 33, of Cambridge, Ontario, is on track for a career year. To date he's driven 766 winners in Canada and horses to over C$10.9 million in purse money for a solid .368 UDR. On December 10, Jamieson set a Canadian record for driving wins in a single season when he recorded his 740th win, breaking the former record of 739 set by Mark MacDonald in 2006. Jamieson took home his O'Brien as Canada's Driver of the Year for the 2007 season when he won both the C$1.5 million North America Cup and the Little Brown Jug with Tell All, who was voted Canada's Horse of the Year.

Forward, 38, of Woodstock, Ontario, is also enjoying one of his best years on record, as he has won 513 races to date and driven horses to C$3.7 million in purse money on Canadian soil. On March 21, at Fraser Downs in Surrey, B.C., Forward was crowned Canada's National Driving Champion, as he beat out a field of seven of the top Canadian drivers.

Two fillies that exemplified consistency throughout the year earned nominations in the 2-year-old pacing filly category. Breeders Crown champion Fancy Filly, a winner of $817,655 and 10 of 12 starts, is up against Put On A Show, winner of the She's A Great Lady, seven of nine races and$732,379.

The Artsplace colt Sportswriter, who posted a world record 1:49.2 mile in the Metro Pace and netted$815,680 in earnings from his eight races this season, is nominated as Canada's top 2-year-old pacing colt along with Battle of Waterloo champion Wellthereyougo, a winner of$271,793.

A pair of millionaire fillies from the Tracy Brainard Stable, both owned by Bulletproof Enterprises, dominated the sophomore pacing filly ranks this past year and one of them will take home the trophy as Canada's 3-year-old Pacing Filly of the Year. Not Enough, a winner of 10 races and over $1 million, is up against her stablemate Yellow Diamond, a winner of 14 races and $1.3 million.

North America's top two money-winning 3-year-old pacing colts are the finalists in their division. If I Can Dream, a winner of 12 races including the Breeders Crown and $1.7 million, is a nominee along with Well Said, a winner of 10 races and nearly $2 million with the North America Cup and Little Brown Jug to his credit.

Darlin's Delight and Dreamfair Eternal will battle it out for older pacing mare honors. Darlin's Delight has banked nearly$3 millionlifetime after earning $364,965 this past year with14 top three finishes in 17 races. Dreamfair Eternal won$544,666 in 2009 with her biggest payday coming in the Roses Are Red Stakes.

Bigtime Ball was a nominee in the 3-year-old pacing colt division in 2007 against Tell All and is back this year as a finalist in the older pacing horse category. The homebred son of Presidential Ball who surpassed a million dollars in earnings for owner-trainer-breeder Gord Irwin this season won almost a half million in 2009.Canadian Pacing Derby champion Shark Gesture is also nominated in this category and has season's earningsof $935,015.

Costa Rica and Poof She's Gone are the nominees in the 2-year-old filly trotter category. Costa Rica won 10 races and$970,161 with her richest payday coming in the Peaceful Way Stakes. The Ontario-sired filly Poof She's Gone won 10 of 12 races during her million-dollar campaign which saw her take the Breeders Crown championship for her division.

Il Villaggio and Text Me are nominated in the 2-year-old trotting colt division. Il Villaggio boasted a three-race win streak at Mohawk in September, culminating with a victory in the William Wellwood Memorial Trot during his $464,521 season which included six victories. Top Ontario Sires Stakes performer Text Me completed his productive $351,405 season with a strong win in the OSS Super Finals.

Elusive Desire is looking for her second consecutive O'Brien trophy, this time in the 3-year-old trotting filly division. The multiple stakes winner with$834,534 in seasonal earnings is up against stakes winner Yursa Hanover, a winner of $367,157.

The 2009 season was a perfect one for Muscle Hill, who won all 12 of his races while earningnearly $2.5 million. On Canadian soil, the Muscles Yankee colt scored victories in the Canadian Trotting Classic and Breeders Crown.He's earned an O'Brien nomination along with Equity in the 3-year-old trotting colt category. Equity, a son of Kadabra, was a top performer in the Ontario Sires Stakes where he earned C$333,500 of his almost half a million in seasonal earnings.

In the older trotting mare category, Classic Lane and Gostreet are the nominees. Classic Lane had 16 top three finishes from 25 starts and earned$453,419, while Gostreet had 21 of 32 top-three finishes and earnings of $147,313.

Two Canadian millionaires are nominated in the older trotting horse category. San Pail, winner of the Maple Leaf Trot and season's earnings of $631,565, is up against Armbro Chronicle, a winner of$299,912 this season and also a finalist in this category last year.

Two veteran horsemen are nominated for the O'Brien Award of Horsemanship. Norwegian native Per Henriksen, 63, now of Norwood, Ontario, prefers to specialize in trotters, the gait closest to his heart and homeland. Henriksen trained horses including top Ontario Sires Stakes performers I Won't Dance and Magic Fruit to over C$1.3 million in earnings.

Rick Zeron, 53, of Oakville, Ontario, has been posting solid training and driving numbers for over two decades and posted some of his highest averages ever in the 2009 season. He copped almost a million on the training side. On the driving side of the ledger, he has steered horses to over C$5.2 million in earnings, the eighth consecutive year he's eclipsed C$5 million in earnings.

The Armstrong Breeder of the Year Award nominees are Charalambos Christoforou of Campbellville, Ontario, and Diane Ingham and Harry Rutherford of Mount Pleasant, Ontario.From the 44 starters that Christoforou bred, they amassed over C$1.8 million in earnings in 2009 for an average of C$42,771 per starter. Some of the top horses included O'Brien nominee Equity, Raw Energy and Parlay.

Ingham and Rutherford's 19 starters averaged C$64,528 for a total of C$1.2 million in earnings. Contributing to those stats were O'Brien nominee Il Villaggio along with Raising Rachel and Reach Higher.

One of the 24 horse nominees will be recognized as Canada's Horse of the Year. The winners will be announced at the O'Brien Awards banquet on Saturday, January 30, 2010, at the Delta Meadowvale Hotel in Mississauga, Ontario.

Courtesy of the UNITED STATES TROTTING ASSOCIATION's Newsroom.