Joe O’Brien Named Neville Award Recipient For 2004 By Jay Wolf 7/20/04 Joe O’Brien, Hall of Famer and two-time winner of the Little Brown Jug, has been selected as the sixth recipient of the Joseph Neville Memorial Award to be presented at the Mayor’s Breakfast on September 22, 2004. O’Brien was chosen by a 23-member panel of national and international harness racing enthusiasts.

O’Brien’s career began at the age of 13 in the Canadian Maritimes. In 1948, O’Brien moved his operations to the United States as a trainer for the powerful Castleton Farms. “Little Joe” captured the 1958 Little Brown Jug with Shadow Wave and the 1973 Jug with Ohio owned, Melvin’s Woe. O’Brien also captured two Hambletonian titles with Scott Frost (1955) and Blaze Hanover (1960).

O’Brien was the regular pilot of two USTA Horses of the Year, Scott Frost (1955-56) and Fresh Yankee (1970). The Alberton, Prince Edward Island native finished his driving career with 4,285 wins and over $20.4 million in career earnings.

Joe O’Brien was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 1976 and the Harness Racing Living Hall of Fame in Goshen, New York in 1970.

O'Brien’s family will be presented a plaque at the Little Brown Jug Mayor’s Breakfast at Ohio Wesleyan University on September 22, the morning before the 59th Little Brown Jug at the Delaware County Fairgrounds.

Past Neville Award winners include: Max C. Hempt (1999); Charles D. Hill (2000); George Sholty (2001); James Hackett (2002); Frank Ervin (2003).

Tickets to the Mayor’s Breakfast are available for $25 each by phoning (800) 335-3247 or by writing The Mayor’s Breakfast, P.O. Box 1278, Delaware, Ohio 43015.