The red carpet rolls out at 6 p.m. this evening for the 41st SOVEREIGN AWARDS, the lavish celebration of all things 2015: the best horses, the top horsepeople and media.
The event will be LIVE STREAMED at http://www.woodbineentertainment.com/Woodbine/News/Pages/2015-Sovereign-Awards.aspx
The event begins with a Red Carpet and Colio Estate Winery Sparkling Wine Reception at 6pm followed by a Woodbine Chef inspired, gourmet buffet dinner at 7pm after which Sovereign Award Presentation Ceremony will begin between 8:00 – 8:30 pm (EST).
The awards will be streamed live on woodbineentertainment.com beginning between 8:00 and 8:30 pm (EST) until Horse of the Year for 2015 has been presented.
This year’s theme is “At the Movies” – See if you can name all of the movie theme songs which will be played as each winner makes their way to the stage.
HORSE OF THE YEAR FOR 2015 comes down to a couple of fillies – the 2-year-old CATCH A GLIMPSE, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Filly Turf or ACADEMIC, the 3-year-old Woodbine Oaks, Canadian and BC Derby winner..should be a good battle.
It is very cool that RUSS AND LOIS BENNETT will be honoured this evening as well – their Flying Horse Farm in B.C. has been one of the most successful breeding operations in Canadian racing history.
The Bennetts will receive the E.P. Taylor Award of Merit –
Settled on the shore of the Okanagan Lake in BC, Canada, Flying Horse Farm has become one of BC’s most celebrated Thoroughbred farms. Russ and Lois Bennett’s dedication to raising Thoroughbreds began in the early 60s, leading to them becoming award winning and leading BC breeders through the following decades. Flying Horse Farm was home to the 1983 “Sovereign Award Horse of the Year” recipient Travelling Victor. The farm has also produced multiple stakes winners such as Always A Dixie and Tierra del Fuego, with most recent winners including Touching Promise and Brass and Gold. As of 2011, stakes winner Lord Nelson was inducted into the BC Hall of Fame in recognition of his outstanding racing career. Currently standing for stud at Flying Horse Farm is Sungold; he is by A.P. Indy and out of Queen’s Word, by Kingmambo. The farm is also proving graded stakes winners Finality and Mass Market, both of whom are standing at Redrock Farm.
Before the Sovereigns tonight..
SHAKHIMAT makes his 3-year-old debut at Keeneland in the Transylvania Stakes on opening day of that wonderful meeting. SHAK is 10 to 1 in the morning line with Emma-Jayne Wilson riding for owners Dan Gale and Richard Hogan and trainer Roger Attfield..
and of course, tomorrow is OPENING DAY at Woodbine..WOODBINE SELECTIONS will be in the ‘Blog again this year.. Good luck to everybody!
HONORARY MEMBER OF JOCKEY CLUB OF CANADA, OGDEN PHIPPS
Ogden Mills (Dinny) Phipps, a prominent American financier, Thoroughbred owner and breeder, and former longtime chairman of The Jockey Club, died Wednesday night April 6, 2016, at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City. He was 75 years old.
Under his direction, Phipps Stable campaigned numerous winners of prestigious American Thoroughbred races, including Orb, the 2013 Kentucky Derby winner that was owned in partnership with his cousin Stuart S. Janney III.
Phipps was the great grandson of Henry Phipps, the partner of the steel magnate Andrew Carnegie; the grandson of Henry Carnegie Phipps and Gladys Livingston Mills Phipps; and the son of Lillian Bostwick Phipps, who died in 1987, and Ogden Phipps, who passed away in 2002. He was predeceased in 2007 by his sister, Cynthia Phipps.
Between 1976 and 1994, Phipps served as Chairman of the Board of Bessemer Trust, the private bank and investment advisor established by the Phipps family in 1907. He was also chairman of Bessemer Securities Corporation from 1982 until 1994. He continued to serve on the two Bessemer boards until he retired in 2015.
He served on the board of the King Ranch from 1996 until 2004 and also served on the Board of Governors for New York-Presbyterian Hospitals Inc.
A New York native and more recently a resident of Palm Beach, Fla., Phipps was Chairman and CEO of the New York Racing Association Inc. from 1976 to 1983. He was elected chairman of The Jockey Club in February 1983 and served in that capacity until he retired in August 2015 to become Honorary Chairman.
His tenure as Chairman of The Jockey Club is the longest in the history of the organization, which was created in 1894. Stuart S. Janney III was elected to succeed Phipps as chairman of The Jockey Club in August 2015.
The Jockey Club’s primary responsibility is to maintain The American Stud Book and ensure the integrity and welfare of the Thoroughbred breed in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.
The organization, directly or through its subsidiaries, also provides support and leadership on a wide range of important industry initiatives and it serves the information and technology needs of owners, breeders, media, fans and farms, among others.
Phipps attended Deerfield Academy in Deerfield, Mass., and Yale University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1963. He was an accomplished athlete and will be inducted into the International Court Tennis Hall of Fame this summer (as his father was previously). He was also an avid golfer and outdoorsman.
He held a variety of board positions in the Thoroughbred industry, including with Breeders’ Cup Ltd., Blood-Horse, National Thoroughbred Racing Association Inc., the Equibase Management Committee, Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, and the wholly owned subsidiaries of The Jockey Club.
Phipps owned and raced Successor, the champion juvenile colt of 1966; Rhythm, the champion 2-year-old colt of 1989; Inside Information, the champion older filly or mare of 1995; Storm Flag Flying, the 2-year-old filly champion of 2002; and Smuggler, the 3-year-old filly champion of 2005.
Other stakes winners bred and/or owned by Phipps include Adjudicating, Awe Inspiring, Boisterous, Dancing Forever, Dispute, Duty Dance, Educated Risk, Imagining, Intrepid Hero, Majestic Light, Mining, Mr. Speaker, Persistently, Pleasant Home, Point of Entry, Time for a Change, and Time Tested.
Phipps called Rhythm’s triumph in the 1990 Travers Stakes, come-from-behind victories by Personal Ensign in the 1988 Breeders’ Cup Distaff and Storm Flag Flying in the 2002 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, Inside Information’s six stakes victories in 1995, and Orb’s Kentucky Derby win in 2013 his most memorable moments in Thoroughbred racing.
He was honored with numerous awards for his contributions to the sport throughout the years.
In 1978, Phipps received an Eclipse Award of Merit and was honored by the New York Turf Writers’ Association in recognition of his successful effort to have the takeout on wagers at NYRA tracks reduced.
read more:
Honorary Member of The Jockey Club of Canada, Ogden Mills Phipps Dies
