The 45th annual Sovereign Awards were held virtually from the Woodbine simulcast set due to the COVID-19 pandemic that has halted all gatherings and events.
Jason Portuondo announced the winners while viewers followed along with the 68-page program that could be downloaded.
The three finalists for Horse of the Year were El Tormenta, Pink Lloyd and Starship Jubilee.
STARSHIP JUBILEE was named the 2019 Canadian HORSE OF THE YEAR, winning by a nose over Champion Sprinter Pink Lloyd. Just 3 voting points separated the two outstanding horses for the Horse of the Year trophy. ‘Jubilee’ also collected her third straight Champion Female Turf Mare Sovereign Award. Owned by Blue Heaven Farm and trained by Kevin Attard, Starship Jubilee has continued to reign over the turf mares in Canada while strutting her stuff well outside of Canada. She won the Grade 1 E.P. Taylor Stakes last fall to give her trainer Attard his first Grade 1 win.
Vote totals: Starship Jubilee (108), Pink Lloyd (105), El Tormenta (53)
“It’s an incredible feeling. We have to give all the credit to Kevin Attard and my mom Bonnie Baskin who had the confidence in us to give us the mare to race,” said Baskin’s son Adam Corndorf, manager of the family’s Blue Heaven Farm.
Corndorf purchased Starship Jubilee from Kevin and Soli Mehta privately after the 2018 Keeneland November Breeding sale. “She was purchased as a broodmare prospect but I talked to Kevin and he felt she had plenty more left in the tank.”
Last year she had an unbelievable year and it just brought so much joy to my family. At some her of her races we have had four generations of my family there including my 5-year-old daughter and my 99-year-old grandfather.”
Bred by William Sorren in Florida and claimed early in her career by Attard and Mehta, Starship Jubilee had a 2019 record of 3 wins in 7 starts and $604,929. The now 7-year-old mare is already 3-for-3 in 2020 and is headed to Woodbine this week to prepare for the summer and fall turf stakes. In her career she has won 17 of 35 races and over $1.4 million.
Pedigree notes: Starship Jubilee is by the beautifully-bred sire INDY WIND (A.P. Indy – Zagora) who was a five-time stakes winner of over $392,000, winning two editions of the Alysheba Stakes. He stands in Ohio for a $2,000 fee and previously stood in Florida.
Starship Jubilee’s dam PERFECTLY WILD is an unraced daughter of Forest Wildcat from the Grade 1 winning turf mare PERFECT ARC. Perfectly Wild has had 7 winning foals including last year’s multiple stakes placed Starship Nala.
Originally a $6,500 yearling purchase, Starship Jubilee was bought back from Keeneland November in 2018 by Attard for $425,000 before being sold to Blue Heaven.
CHARLES FIPKE was honoured with the E.P. Taylor Award of Merit and he was interviewed for the telecast.
“It’s a great honour. E.P. Taylor was an idol, he bred Northern Dancer, the best stallion that every lived,” said Fipke. “I work away at things and sometimes they come through. If you try your best and work hard you will be rewarded.”
Fipke told a story about his first horse, a former Exhibition Park runner in Vancouver that he owned as a teenager.
“I took him to Princeton Racing Days and rode him there but I didn’t realize I had to ride against Exhibition Park jockeys and jockeys who were headed to the Calgary Stampede. When we started, the others had a 100-foot lead and I said to myself ‘watch us close that gap’ but the gap got bigger and bigger. We finished dead last.”
Since then, Fipke has put together a successful breeding and racing stable which has including Grade 1 winning mare Unbridled Forever whom he bred from his mare Lemons Forever. He has also had three Sovereign Award winners including 2008 Champion Three-Year-Old Male and winner of the 2008 Queen’s Plate, Not Bourbon; 2010 Champion Older Female, Impossible Time; and 2003 Champion Male Turf Horse, Perfect Soul, who went on to become a successful sire. Also, Mr. Fipke bred and owned a number of other successful racehorses including the winner of the 2011 Breeder’s Cup Filly and Mare Turf GI, Perfect Shirl.
This spring, Fipke announced that all of his stallions would be offered for free for a breeding due to the COVID-19 pandemic, stating he wanted to help out the smaller breeders.
HARVEY WARNER was presented with a Special Sovereign Award for his contributions to racing in Canada, specifically Manitoba. Warner has been actively involved in the thoroughbred industry in Canada since 1971. Throughout this time he has served as the President of the Winnipeg Horseman’s Club, spent time as a member of the Manitoba Horse Council Board and sat on the Board of the HBPA of Manitoba. In 1994 Mr. Warner was a driving force behind the formation of the Manitoba Jockey Club which assumed ownership and operations of Assiniboia Downs. Currently, Mr. Warner is the President of the Manitoba Jockey Club and a Steward for The Jockey Club of Canada.
“It is something I never imagined, it feels good for the recognition,” said Warner. “It has been a long slog over the years to get over things economically for racing here and it is a credit to everybody here.”
Assiniboia Downs will be the first Canadian track to re-open for racing in 2020 with a start date of May 25. “We don’t know what’s ahead with no fans, but we are very stable right now.”
CANADIAN THOROUGHBRED MAGAZINE, which is now online after 60 years of publishing, congratulates DAVE BRIGGS who won the Outstanding Writing Sovereign for a story in the magazine on Ron Clarkson, breeder of 2019 Queen’s Plate winner One Bad Boy. The link to the story is below.
SAM-SON FARMS has risen back to the top of the owner and breed ranks. The famed farm collected Outstanding Owner and Breeder Sovereigns thanks mostly to the exploits of EL TORMENTA, who won the Woodbine Mile (G1) and was named Champion Turf Male, and DESERT RIDE, the Woodbine Oaks winner who was named CHAMPION 3-YEAR-OLD filly.
MARK CASSE won his 12th Sovereign for Outstanding Trainer and 9th in succession. In a bit of an upset over Kevin Attard, who trained Horse of the Year Starship Jubilee, Casse led all trainers by purses, collecting $5.1 million in earnings from 92 victories and 12 stakes wins in Canada
British Columbia celebrated as the amazing HERE’S HANNAH was named Outstanding Main Track Older Mare, edging Lift Up by 4 voting points.
You can watch the replay of the announcement of the awards and speeches by Harvey Warner and Charles Fipke here.
Full results in order of presentation:
Michael Bye – Photograph
Writing Category:
Dave Briggs for Canadian Thoroughbred – Royal Victory for the Quintessential “small guy”
Digital Audio/visual and Broadcast Category:
Woodbine Entertainment Group – The Queen’s Plate
OUTSTANDING GROOM – Michael ‘Fuzzy’ Williams
OUTSTANDING HANDICAPPER – Paul Shurman
SPECIAL SOVEREIGN AWARD – Harvey Warner – Manitoba Jockey Club
Outstanding Broodmare:
Loving Vindication – owned by Anderson Farms, dam of Wonder Gadot
Vote totals – Loving Vindication (135), Cumulonimble (63), Avie’s Empire (45)
Outstanding Apprentice Jockey:
Kazushi Kimura
Vote totals: Kazushi Kimura (182), Daisuke Fukumoto (91), Shavon Belle (27)
Champion Older Main Track Male:
Pink Lloyd – Entourage Stable. Trainer: Robert Tiller. Breeder: John Carey ON
Old Forester – Gladiator Queen by Great Gladiator
Vote totals: Pink Lloyd (134), Mr. Ritz (85), Special Forces (52)
Champion Older Main Track Female: Here’s Hannah – Owner/breeder: B C Stables. (BC) Trainer: John Morrison
HERE’S HANNAH has been a champion in BC several times since 2017. The now 5-year-old mare won 5 of 6 races in 2019 including the Grade 3 Ballerina Stakes. She earned over $162,000 and she is 12-for-14 in her career. She is by Numaany from the mare Dreams Start Here by A Fleets Dancer.
Vote totals: Here’s Hannah (132), Lift Up (128), She’s the Berries (36)
Patti Tubbs photo
Outstanding Trainer:
Mark E. Casse – 12th Sovereign Award for Trainer, 9th in succession
Vote totals: Mark Casse (142), Kevin Attard (108), Norman McKnight (31)
Champion Male Turf Horse:
El Tormenta – Owner/breeder: Sam-Son Farms (ON) Trainer: Gail Cox
Vote totals: El Tormenta (170), Tiz a Slam (78), Global Access (23)
Champion Female Turf Horse:
Starship Jubilee – 3rd straight win in this category. Owner: Blue Heaven Farm. Trainer: Kevin Attard. Breeder: William Sorren (FL)
Vote totals: Starship Jubilee (170), Holy Helena (70), Amalfi Coast (35)
Outstanding Breeder:
Sam-Son Farm – bred El Tormenta, Desert Ride, etc.
Vote Totals: Sam-Son Farm (121), Tall Oaks Farm (91), Chiefswood Stables Limited (55)
Champion Two-Year-Old Male:
Mr. Hustle – Owner – Bill Werner, Trainer – Roger Attfield Breeder: V Gail Ray
Unbeaten in 3 starts at Woodbine in 2019, this gelding is by Declaration of War from Ready Ready Ready by More Than Ready. He was bought by Bill Werner for $235,000 at the 2018 Keeneland September sale.
Vote Totals: Mr. Hustle (122), Muskoka Gold (95), Dotted Line (64)
Champion Two-Year-Old Female:
Curlin’s Voyage – Hill N Dale Equine Holdings, Windsor Boys / Trainer: Josie Carroll Breeder: Hill n Dale Equine Holdings ON. A Curlin filly from the Stormy Atlantic mare Atlantic Voyage, Curlin’s Voyage edged the unbeaten sensation Infinite Patience by just 5 voting points.
Vote totals: Curlin’s Voyage (115), Infinite Patience (100), Owlette (42)
Outstanding Jockey:
Eurico Rosa Da Silva
Vote totals: Eurico Rosa Da Silva (182), Rafael Hernandez (64), Patrick Husbands (32)
Champion Male Sprinter:
Pink Lloyd – The reigning sprint champ has 3 wins in this category, but somehow was not an unanimous choice by voters this year.
Vote totals: Pink Lloyd (180), Silent Poet (43), Yorkton (27)
Champion Female Sprinter:
Summer Sunday – Anne and William Scott – Trainer Stuart Simon Breeder: Trinity West ON
This daughter of Silent Name (Jpn) Dancing Allstar by Millenium Allstar comes by her speed honestly as her mum was very fast and also named Champion 2-year-old in Canada. Summer Sunday won 3 of 6 in 2019 including the Grade 2 Royal North Stakes and Grade 3 Hendrie Stakes. Summer Sunday has won 7 of 11 in her career and about $600,000 (Can).
The $95,000 CTHS yearling sale purchase has been a dream horse for the Scotts, read more here .
Vote totals: Summer Sunday (152), Amalfi Coast (82), Here’s Hannah (23), Sister Peacock (23)
Outstanding Owner:
Sam-Son Farm – Just 2 points got the Sovereign for Sam-Son over Chiefswood, which led all owners by Purses at the Woodbine meeting in 2019.
Vote totals: Sam-Son Farm (117), Chiefswood Stables Limited (115), Stronach Stables (25)
E.P. TAYLOR OF MERIT AWARD – Charles Fipke
Champion Three-Year-Old Male:
Global Access – Owner/breeder; Live Oak Plantation (FL). Trainer: Michael Trombetta
American-bred and raced Global Access won graded stakes races in Canada and the US and got the nod over Canadian-bred Tone Broke in a mild upset. The margin was 16 voting points. A flashy chestnut by Giant’s Causeway from Daveron (Ger) by Black Sam Bellamy, Global Access came to Canada 4 times and won the Grade 3 Ontario Derby and Grade 3 Marine Stakes. He also won the Grade 3 Saranac at Saratoga.
Vote totals: Global Access (141), Tone Broke (125), Explode (40)
Champion Three-Year-Old Female:
Desert Ride – Owner/breeder: Sam-Son Farms (ON). Trainer: Neil Howard
Woodbine Oaks and Wonder Where Stakes winner Desert Ride is a homebred for Sam-Son and she is by Candy Ride (Arg) from Fun in the Desert by Distorted Humor.
Vote totals: Desert Ride (133), Amalfi Coast (110), Hidden Grace (28)
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