Sport Shorts

McArdle, a 3-year-old pacing colt who earned $1.3 million in 2002, has been named the New Jersey Standardbred of the Year. This yearly award to a New Jersey-sired standardbred is presented by the Equine Advisory Board of the state Department of Agriculture upon the recommendation of the Standardbred Breeders and Owners Association of New Jersey.

Sired by Falcon Seelster, McArdle was bred by Perretti Farms in Cream Ridge and is owned by Norman and Gerald Smiley, Tip Stables and Sampson Street Stables. He is trained by Chris Ryder and was driven mostly by Catello Manzi, Mike Lachance and David Miller.

In 2002, McArdle won 13 of his 23 starts, including the $500,000 SBOA/NJ Classic, the $450,000 Hoosier Cup in Indiana, the $141,250 division of the Oliver Wendell Holmes, the $172,000 Tattersall’s Pace, and the $74,500 Little Brown Jug Preview. He was second at the $1-million Meadowlands Pace. He took a career mark of 1:49.0 in winning the Holmes. He earned $1,349,776.