Post by Peter gross on Feb 1, 2010 6:36:35 GMT -5
I did the daily double, so to speak of the horse racing awards on the weekend - The Sovereigns on Friday and the O'Briens on Saturday. The Sovereigns broke dramatically with tradition by holding their blingfest at the Ultra nightclub in a far less formal environment than we'd been used to. Though the room might have been a break from tradition, a lot of old school people were honoured for their work. Roger Attfield won his 7th trophy as trainer of the year and when the undefeated Hollinger (4 for 4) won as top two year-old colt, it was the 43rd horse trained by Attfield to get a St. Simon bronze cast trophy. The top jockey of the year was Patrick Husbands, also a 7 time winner and of all the categories, Husbands got 185 first place votes, more than any other entity.
Down The Stretch, Canada's most informative and entertaining horse racing newspaper went home empty (except for the hors d'ouvres we were able to grab). We had three candidates for best newspaper story, but Perry Lefko, Keith McCalmont and Eleanor Yeoman LeBlanc were beaten out by Curtis Stock. Lefko lost in the Best feature story category to Bruce Walker and I had no chance to win for best picture, so it was hardly shocking that my shot of Chantal in the Canadian flag lost to Michael Burns Sr. and his dazzling Reflection of Talent which you can see in the January issue of Down The Stretch.
Eye of the Leopard was a handy winner as outstanding Two year-old, even though he failed to win after his gusty Queen's Plate victory. The elated trainer, Mark Frostad pointed out that it took an awful lot out of the son of Eye of the Sphynx to go from a maiden win to Plate Trial win to Queen's Plate win in a matter of a few weeks.
I didn't see Reade Baker Friday night, but it would be interesting to get his input on the voting for three year old filly. With 304 votes cast, there are 27 million possible outcomes, so it was quite remarkable that both Baker's filly Biofuel and Negligee each attracted 135 votes making this the first dead heat in Sovereign voting. Adding much more irony to the mix is the fact that it was Negligee in the stretch of the Juvenile Fillies race at the Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita that dealt Biofuel a much more violent bodycheck than anything we've seen so far this season from the Leafs. So here's a question - if Negligee doesn't barrel into Biofuel and Biofuel wins that race or finishes second, would the votes have been different? My opinion - yes.
Champs Elysees went home with a pair of trophies...as Champion Male Turf Horse and as Horse of the Year..Champs Elysees had four races at Woodbine in 2009, topped by his spectacular surge to victory in the Grade 1 $2million Pattison Canadian International.
Perhaps the classiest move of the night went unnoticed. In the O'Brien Awards program, driver Rick Zeron, nominated for the O'Brien Award of Horsemanship, purchased a full page ad congratulating the other Nominee, Per Henrikson. When Henrickson won, he gave the night's best line when he said,
"I've never been nominated for anything before, except may idiot of the year by one of my ex-wives!"
Kind of set the tone for the relaxed entertaining night that the O'Briens are.
Now I have to figure out how Down The Stretch, which has 7 Sovereign nominations, can score its first nomination for an O'Brien a year from now.
Down The Stretch, Canada's most informative and entertaining horse racing newspaper went home empty (except for the hors d'ouvres we were able to grab). We had three candidates for best newspaper story, but Perry Lefko, Keith McCalmont and Eleanor Yeoman LeBlanc were beaten out by Curtis Stock. Lefko lost in the Best feature story category to Bruce Walker and I had no chance to win for best picture, so it was hardly shocking that my shot of Chantal in the Canadian flag lost to Michael Burns Sr. and his dazzling Reflection of Talent which you can see in the January issue of Down The Stretch.
Eye of the Leopard was a handy winner as outstanding Two year-old, even though he failed to win after his gusty Queen's Plate victory. The elated trainer, Mark Frostad pointed out that it took an awful lot out of the son of Eye of the Sphynx to go from a maiden win to Plate Trial win to Queen's Plate win in a matter of a few weeks.
I didn't see Reade Baker Friday night, but it would be interesting to get his input on the voting for three year old filly. With 304 votes cast, there are 27 million possible outcomes, so it was quite remarkable that both Baker's filly Biofuel and Negligee each attracted 135 votes making this the first dead heat in Sovereign voting. Adding much more irony to the mix is the fact that it was Negligee in the stretch of the Juvenile Fillies race at the Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita that dealt Biofuel a much more violent bodycheck than anything we've seen so far this season from the Leafs. So here's a question - if Negligee doesn't barrel into Biofuel and Biofuel wins that race or finishes second, would the votes have been different? My opinion - yes.
Champs Elysees went home with a pair of trophies...as Champion Male Turf Horse and as Horse of the Year..Champs Elysees had four races at Woodbine in 2009, topped by his spectacular surge to victory in the Grade 1 $2million Pattison Canadian International.
Perhaps the classiest move of the night went unnoticed. In the O'Brien Awards program, driver Rick Zeron, nominated for the O'Brien Award of Horsemanship, purchased a full page ad congratulating the other Nominee, Per Henrikson. When Henrickson won, he gave the night's best line when he said,
"I've never been nominated for anything before, except may idiot of the year by one of my ex-wives!"
Kind of set the tone for the relaxed entertaining night that the O'Briens are.
Now I have to figure out how Down The Stretch, which has 7 Sovereign nominations, can score its first nomination for an O'Brien a year from now.
