Islander wins top harness racing award

An Island horse racer has won one of Canada's most prestigious awards in harness racing.

Marc Campbell of Winsloe, P.E.I.,  was one of two people nominated for the O'Brien Award of Horsemanship. It's given to a racer with solid training and driving numbers.

"You're kind of just in shock almost," Campbell said.

"Thought that we had a pretty good chance of winning it this year, but you know, you never know. It's kind of like you know horse racing; you just never know what's going to happen. Afterwards I had some people in the business that are very well known come up and congratulate me, so I was pretty excited about that."

The 28-year-old beat his own recording-setting career best from last year.

Campbell has earned close to $500,000 over his years driving and training.

He was nominated for the same award in 2012. At the time he was the youngest harness racer ever to be nominated.

Campbell said his next goal is win 1,000 races.