SOVEREIGN AWARDS “MOVIE NIGHT”
Woodbine opens its 60th racing season today, it’s cold but sunny and a champion is in action in the stakes race! The Blue Grass tops a great Keeneland card and how about that win by SHAKHIMAT in his season debut?
Thoroughblog will catch up but for now, here is a photo of the SHAK ATTACK at Keeneland and some highlights from last night…
SHAK ATTACK – Keeneland photo of SHAKHIMAT winning his 3-year-old debut for Dan Gale, Richard Hogan and Roger Attfield in the Transylvania Stakes
CATCH A GLIMPSE – Sovereign sweep, Horse of the Year
Double champion Miss Mischief remembered
“Never confuse luck for genius” said Russ Bennett as he accepted the E.P. Taylor Award of Merit last night at the 41st SOVEREIGN AWARDS at Woodbine racetrack.
A huge Hollywood sign and large Oscar trophy greeted some 270 guests last night for the big night honouring the champions and nominees of 2015.
The evening was fun and silly and poignant and simply a great time as the men and women of this great game got together, shared stories of the winter and talked about the coming season, the Blue Jays, and everything else.
The Bennetts were gracious and funny as they were honoured for many decades in the industry and their award was in the middle of an evening where the food was delish and host JASON PORTUONDO was entertaining – especially when he got us all us to dance to the Dollar Wine song!
And JASON won his first Sovereign Award last night!
I would like to congratulate the team at TALKIN HORSES on CTV and CTV for its first Sovereign Award win for Broadcast. Episode 17 from Season 2 was judged the winner and it was a thrill for the hard working group of about half a dozen of us who put together 21 shows last year.
JASON PORTUONDO and JOE TILLEY host the 30 minute racing, magazine show, MADDIE JO TILLEY is the field reported and behind the scenes the ones who make it work – ALEX NARVAEZ our producer, MELISSA PISANTE, assistant producer, DAWN KAY, social media guru, TIFFANY BRISENO, designer wardrobe OSCAR CAMPOS, cameras and PENNY-CLAIRE TILLEY, accounting.
Oh, I play a little role too!
The Ontario board of the HORSEMEN’S BENEVOLENT and PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION should be commended for its dedication to promoting the sport of Thoroughbred racing in Ontario.
The best way to get racing to the people is to put it in their face and there needs to be fun and innovative ways to do that.
TALKIN HORSES has the HBPA and WOODBINE to thank and thank you to our team captain Joe Tilley for his ideas and for getting the show on CTV!!
Also last night, double winner MISS MISCHIEF, owned by Diane Manning and trained by Dale Capuano, was remembered as the bay mare recently passed away. Neither Manning or Capuano were on hand to accept the mare’s awards for Champion Older Mare and Champion Female Sprinter.
MARK CASSE won his 8th Sovereign award for trainer but was not in attendance but Frank and Freida Stronach accepted awards for Shaman Ghost and Breeder of the Year. Sam-Son Farms had a contingent as did Bear Stables, Mike DePaulo, Ivan Dalos, Kevin Attard and many others.
ACADEMIC (3yo filly, INTERPOL (turf male) and SHAMAN GHOST (3yo colt) were the Canadian bred award winners.
STACIE ROBERTS , at her final Sovereign Awards as Executive Director of the Jockey Club of Canada, put on an amazing show (love the Movie Trivia game!) and her successor, Melanie O’Sullivan seems a perfect fit to take the reins.
The closest award of the night was CATCH A GLIMPSE’S Turf Female win by 2 voting points over Strut the Course.
MR. WILL WONG has some awesome clips and recaps here:
#HORSERACING: “CATCH A GLIMPSE” WINS TOP HONOURS AT 2015 SOVEREIGN AWARDS
http://www.mrwillwong.com/horseracing-catch-a-glimpse-wins-top-honours-at-2015-sovereign-awards/
The CATCH A GLIMPSE team – 3 awards for the 2-year-old filly went to owners Mike Ambler (far right) Jeff Begg (third from right) and Greg Lang (third from left) – TERENCE DULAY PHOTO
RESULTS WITH SCORES..
In an effort to promote equal opportunity in determining the winners for 2015 in the 17 race award and 3 media award categories, the voting began January 2, 2016, allowing for statistics for the entire year to be considered. The Jockey Club of Canada announced the top four finalists in each category as determined by the online ballots of 39 knowledgeable voters. The media category awards were determined by the Professors of Humber School of Media Studies and Information Technology, in Toronto, Ontario. Three finalists were announced in the three media categories.
Horse of the Year Finalists:
Academic, Catch a Glimpse, Interpol, Shaman Ghost
2015 Horse of the Year – Catch A Glimpse
Ch. F2 By City Zip – Halo River (Irish River (FR))
Breeder: Branch Equine LLC (KY)
Owner: Gary Barber, Michael Ambler & Windways Farm
Trainer: Mark Casse
2015: 4 starts – 3 wins – 0 second – 0 third – $717,688
Winner: G1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, G2 Natalma, Alw $80K
2015 Horse of the Year Points Results:
Catch a Glimpse (117), Academic (50), Shaman Ghost (39), Interpol (13)
(Media) Outstanding Photograph – Chris Young
Early Morning Groom – published GlobeandMail.com
(Media) Outstanding Writing – Curtis Stock
A Love of Horses – published Edmonton Journal
(Media) Outstanding Audio/visual and Broadcast – Talkin’ Horses
Season 2 Episode 17 – Aired CTV and CTVtwo October 3, 2015
Outstanding Broodmare – Rare Opportunity
(1992) by Danzig Connection – Andora (Conquistador Cielo) Breeders/Owners: Anderson Farms and Rod Ferguson
Purchased for just $5,400 as an unraced 2-year-old, the aptly-named Rare Opportunity has been a superior horse for Rod Ferguson and Anderson Farms. A brilliant racehorse with a limited career, Rare Opportunity was third in the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes at Pimlico in only her third career start. In the breeding shed, her foals have sold at auction for more than $1.3 million and they have earned over $1.5 million. Her 2015 star is Tower of Texas, a finalist for Champion Male Sprinter. The son of Street Sense is the 11th foal of his dam and he won the King Edward Stakes (Grade 2) at Woodbine in 2015. Rare Opportunity’s other stakes winning foals were Street Sounds (by Street Cry (Ire)), winner of the Beaumont Stakes (G2) at Keeneland and earner of over $505,000 and Wonder Where Stakes winner Silver Highlight (by Silver Charm).
Points Results: Rare Opportunity (48), Awesome Lass (40), Star Guest (29), Uproar (25)
Outstanding Apprentice Jockey – Erika Smilovsky
161 STARTS – 11 WINS – 15 SECONDS – 22 THIRDS $363,793
This is the second nomination for Erika Smilovsky for Outstanding Apprentice rider as she also made the short list at the 2014 Sovereign Awards. Smilovsky rode almost exclusively at Woodbine during 2015 but certainly one of her biggest moments came at Fort Erie in September when she guided Johnny La Rue to victory in the popular Puss n Boots Cup Stakes. Smilovky, who is from Pickering, ON, began her horsebacking career as a top Quarter Horse jockey. With over 40 wins in two years as a Thoroughbred rider, she has certainly made a smooth career change.
Points Results: Erika Smilovsky (127), Fanny Crausaz (48), Isabelle Wenc (30), Kayla Pizarro (28)
Champion Older Male – Are You Kidding Me
Dk.B H 5 by Run Away and Hide – Sweet Awakening (Street Cry (IRE))
Breeder: John Bates, Ron Kirk, Greg McDonald & Riordan & Shaw (KY)
Owner: Ronald K Kirk, John C. Bates, & Michael Riordan
Trainer: Roger Attfield
2015: 7 starts – 3 wins – 0 second – 3 third – $420,500
Winner: G2 Autumn, G2 Nijinsky, G2 Eclipse
Points Results: Are You Kidding Me (136), Melmich (44), Stacked Deck (33), Golden Sabre (21)
Champion Older Female – Miss Mischief
B M5 by Into Mischief – Kid Majic (Lemon Drop Kid)
Breeder: Allen Poindexter (KY)
Owner: Diane Manning
Trainer: Dale Capuano
2015: 9 starts – 3 wins – 2 second – 2 third – $298,600
Winner: G2 Bessarabian, HBPA S, Alw $35K
Points Results: Miss Mischief (132), Cactus Kris (35), Uchenna (Ire) (33), Touching Promise (30)
Outstanding Trainer – Mark Casse
434 STARTS – 80 WINS – 78 SECONDS – 73 THIRDS – $4,910,082 IN EARNINGS
There seems to be no stopping the Canadian division of the Mark Casse stable as it won its ninth consecutive training title at Woodbine in 2015, 10th overall, and Casse has won four straight Sovereign awards for Outstanding Trainer. The numbers were big again in 2015 with 14 stakes wins in Canada and remarkably, each one came with a different horse. The stable stars included Natalma Stakes (G2) winner Catch a Glimpse who went on to become Casse’s first Breeders’ Cup winner when she took the Juvenile Filly Turf in November at Keeneland. Casseís other Canadian stakes winners included Summer Stakes (G2) winner Conquest Daddyo, Connaught Cup Stakes (G2) winner Lockout and the ultra-consistent Season Ticket, who won the Wonder Where Stakes. Catch a Glimpse and Conquest Daddyo are Sovereign finalists this evening.
Points Results: Mark Casse (154), Roger Attfield (59), Josie Carroll (18), Kevin Attard (18)
Champion Turf Male – Interpol
B C4 by English Channel – Adel (Strawberry Road (AUS))
Breeder: Richard Lister (ON)
Owner: JMJ Racing Stables LLC
Trainer: Sid Attard
2015: 7 starts – 4 wins – 0 second – 0 third – $445,768
Winner:G1 Northern Dancer, G2 Sky Classic, OC $62K, OC $25K
Points Results: Interpol (129), Are You Kidding Me (49), Reporting Star (39), Danish Dynaformer (29)
Champion Turf Female – Catch A Glimpse
Ch. F2 By City Zip – Halo River (Irish River (FR))
Breeder: Branch Equine LLC (KY)
Owner: Gary Barber, Michael Ambler
& Windways Farm
Trainer: Mark Casse
2015: 4 starts – 3 wins – 0 second – 0 third – $717,688
Winner: G1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, G2 Natalma, Alw $80K
Points Results: Catch a Glimpse (115), Strut the Course (113), Button Down (GB) (36), Habibi (NZ) (8)
Outstanding Breeder – Adena Springs
612 STARTS – 91 WINS – 103 SECONDS – 97 THIRDS – $4,837,101 IN EARNINGS
Frank Stronach’s Adena Springs has won this category nine times and 2015 may have been one of the farms most successful seasons in decades. The farm was represented by Grade 1 winners Private Zone and Judy the Beauty, both hard-knocking American-based performers but it also raced its homebred Shaman Ghost, winner of the Queen’s Plate. Shaman Ghost, a Sovereign award nominee for Champion Three-Year-old Male, was the first Plate winner raced by Stronach since Awesome Again won in 1997. Adena also bred Coronation Futurity winner Shakhimat, an early favourite for the 2016 Plate and bred horses that won or placed in 18 stakes races.
Points Results: Adena Springs (121), Sam-Son Farm (64), Tall Oaks Farm (33), Eugene Melnyk (25)
E.P. Taylor Award of Merit – R.J. (Russell) and Lois Bennett
The Jockey Club of Canada Board of Stewards was proud to present
R.J. (Russell) and Lois Bennett with the E.P. Taylor Award of Merit for their longtime involvement and commitment to Thoroughbred Racing in Canada.
A Member of The Jockey Club of Canada for close to 40 years, Russell Bennett, along with his wife Lois, has been involved in Thoroughbred racing in Canada since the 1950’s.
The Bennetts have proven to be the most successful breeders in racing history in British Columbia, topping the Leading Breeder list in that province almost every year since 1982. They have been honoured nationally and provincially with inductions into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame and the British Columbia Horse Racing Hall of Fame. In 1983 R.J. Bennett was honoured with the Sovereign Award for Outstanding Breeder, the same year his homebred multiple graded stakes winner, Travelling Victor, became the first horse not raced in Ontario to win Horse of the Year honours as well as Champion Older Male.
Most recently, the Bennetts were awarded the Leading Breeder and Leading Owner titles in British Columbia for 2015 along with their homebred mare, Touching Promise, being named Horse of the Year and Champion Older Mare in B.C. The male division of the older horse category was awarded to another Bennett homebred Brass & Gold while their Catz on Fire shared the 3-year-old B.C. bred male with two other recipients in 2015. Touching Promise is also a Sovereign Award finalist for Champion Older Female in 2015.
The Bennetts own more than 40 broodmares and maintain a population of more than 100 Thoroughbreds at their Flying Horse Farm on the shores of Okanagan Lake in Westbank, British Columbia. Producing more than 50 stakes winners, their first stakes winner was Flying Magic, in 1967. A list of other successful stakes runners include, Brandy Magic, Skovinsky, Historical Devil, Tasty Victory, Travelling Round, Easy Triumph, Hurried Romance, Billy Blue, Lively Lord, Always a Dixie, and Multiple Graded Stakes winner Lord Nelson.
The recipient of the E.P. Taylor Award of Merit is decided by The Jockey Club of Canada Board of Stewards and is not necessarily awarded annually. Previously called the Man of the Year Award, The E.P. Taylor Award of Merit is earned by those who have positively impacted or contributed to the Thoroughbred Industry in Canada. Previous recipients of this award include E.P. Taylor, Jack Diamond, George Hendrie, Jim Coleman, George Gardiner, Ernest Samuel, and Charles Taylor.
