Post by Peter Gross on Feb 10, 2010 5:56:47 GMT -5
We were saddened to hear of the death of multiple award winning photographer Michael Burns, who passed away on Sunday, February 8th at the age of 84. I was aware that Burns was not faring well after speaking with his son Michael a few weeks before the Sovereign Awards. Both of the Burns, Sr. and Jr. had been nominated in the Outstanding Photograph category and I had asked son Michael to provide me with the nominated pictures to run in the January issue of Down The Stretch.
The elder's submission was a typically stunning shot of a horse and rider reflected perfectly in a small pond underneath. It was titled Reflection of Talent. Michael Burns Jr, sent the picture to me with the comment that his father was too ill to attend the Sovereigns. On the night of the awards, it was announced that Michael Burns Sr. was indeed the winner of his 7th Sovereign, and do not presume it was a sympathy vote for a guy in bad health. The pictures are submitted anonymously to the voters, who have no idea who actually took them.
I am particularly indebted to anyone named Michael Burns. For two years, I have had unlimited access to all Burns horse racing photography at no cost to my paper. The low level shot of Emma Jayne Wilson winning the 2007 Queen's Plate with Mike Fox is one of an endless series of brilliant images provided to racing fans by Burns..
Burns, though was much more than just a racing picture taker. Along with 60 years as official photographer at Woodbine, Burns also covered hockey games at Maple Leaf Gardens, snapped car racing at Mosport and at Indy and Formula One races in Canada and was the official photographer of the Canadian Curling Association since 1958.
Burns is the only camera guy to win three Eclipse Awards for best thoroughbred images in North America and he has some 30,000 pictures from 30 different sports donated to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame.
Burns is survived by Helen, his wife of 59 and children Mary-Ellen, Patricia and Michael.
Have to imagine a finish line picture of Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta captured by Michael Burns would be a winner. The two great lady horses just might meet at Oaklawn racetrack in the Gr 1Apple Blossom Stakes on April 3. The track is prepared to jack the purse up to $5 million if both Rachel and Zenyatta run and they have offered to extend the distance of the race from a mile and a 16th to a mile and an eighth. That's significant, because at 8 1/2 furlongs, Rachel would have a huge edge because of her front-running prowess; Zenyatta simply wouldn't have enough acreage to pull off another of her dramatic last to first rallies.
Even at nine full furlongs, this would still seem to favour Rachel Alexandra, if her form in the Woodward Stakes holds up. In that race, she was on the gun all the way with all the colts taking their best shots and she still prevailed.
Both mares went undefeated in 2009, but they have never met, although it gets much more intriguing. Each has run once at Oaklawn. Zenyatta won the Apple Blossom in 2008 and wasn't at all compromised by the shorter distance. Let go as the second favourite at 9-5 (Frank Stronach's Ginger Punch was 2-5), Zenyatta was second last for the first six furlongs, about eight lengths off the early pace set by Ginger Punch, but when Mike Smith pressed the button, Zenyatta changed gears, and in the space of maybe a 16th of a mile, passed four rivals, and pulled away to win by four and a half in 1:42.64. For comparison purposes, the mile in this race went in 1:36:59 and we can assume Zenyatta was leading at that point.
Rachel Alexandra won at Oaklawn on February 15 last year in the Martha Washington Stakes at a mile on the dirt. With Calvin Borel steering, Rachel stalked the pace set by Affirmed Truth, assumed the lead before the stretch and hit the wire best by eight lengths in 1:36:40...or about a length faster than Zenyatta's mile in the Apple Blossom. Different times, different race-lengths, different fields, but it does indicate that Rachel Alexandra might have the upper hand if the two meet...Oaklawn's surface is original dirt.
And we're watching the early returns in the race for harness driving glory at Woodbine. Jody Jamieson took a much needed month off after his record 796 win year. After capturing the Dan patch Award as leading driver in North America, Jamieson was one vote away from the unanimous winner of the O'Brien as Outstanding Driver in 2009. Jamieson has returned to the driving wars and already has ten wins at Woodbine, though that puts him 12th, a fair distance behind Randy Waples who has surged to the top in Jamieson's absence. Waples has posted 45 wins in 244 starts. Mark MacDonald is second with 37 wins and Sylvain Filion is third with 33 wins. Jamieson is back steering with his stereo-typical obsession. he had five winners the other night at Flamboro and though he's only been driving since the first week of February, he already has 15 wins in 51 races at the Dundas, Ontario track.
So it might be fun watching Jamieson try and overcome the huge advantage he gave his fellow drivers by taking January off. There is a very good chance JJ will be the leading driver in Canada next December.
The elder's submission was a typically stunning shot of a horse and rider reflected perfectly in a small pond underneath. It was titled Reflection of Talent. Michael Burns Jr, sent the picture to me with the comment that his father was too ill to attend the Sovereigns. On the night of the awards, it was announced that Michael Burns Sr. was indeed the winner of his 7th Sovereign, and do not presume it was a sympathy vote for a guy in bad health. The pictures are submitted anonymously to the voters, who have no idea who actually took them.
I am particularly indebted to anyone named Michael Burns. For two years, I have had unlimited access to all Burns horse racing photography at no cost to my paper. The low level shot of Emma Jayne Wilson winning the 2007 Queen's Plate with Mike Fox is one of an endless series of brilliant images provided to racing fans by Burns..
Burns, though was much more than just a racing picture taker. Along with 60 years as official photographer at Woodbine, Burns also covered hockey games at Maple Leaf Gardens, snapped car racing at Mosport and at Indy and Formula One races in Canada and was the official photographer of the Canadian Curling Association since 1958.
Burns is the only camera guy to win three Eclipse Awards for best thoroughbred images in North America and he has some 30,000 pictures from 30 different sports donated to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame.
Burns is survived by Helen, his wife of 59 and children Mary-Ellen, Patricia and Michael.
Have to imagine a finish line picture of Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta captured by Michael Burns would be a winner. The two great lady horses just might meet at Oaklawn racetrack in the Gr 1Apple Blossom Stakes on April 3. The track is prepared to jack the purse up to $5 million if both Rachel and Zenyatta run and they have offered to extend the distance of the race from a mile and a 16th to a mile and an eighth. That's significant, because at 8 1/2 furlongs, Rachel would have a huge edge because of her front-running prowess; Zenyatta simply wouldn't have enough acreage to pull off another of her dramatic last to first rallies.
Even at nine full furlongs, this would still seem to favour Rachel Alexandra, if her form in the Woodward Stakes holds up. In that race, she was on the gun all the way with all the colts taking their best shots and she still prevailed.
Both mares went undefeated in 2009, but they have never met, although it gets much more intriguing. Each has run once at Oaklawn. Zenyatta won the Apple Blossom in 2008 and wasn't at all compromised by the shorter distance. Let go as the second favourite at 9-5 (Frank Stronach's Ginger Punch was 2-5), Zenyatta was second last for the first six furlongs, about eight lengths off the early pace set by Ginger Punch, but when Mike Smith pressed the button, Zenyatta changed gears, and in the space of maybe a 16th of a mile, passed four rivals, and pulled away to win by four and a half in 1:42.64. For comparison purposes, the mile in this race went in 1:36:59 and we can assume Zenyatta was leading at that point.
Rachel Alexandra won at Oaklawn on February 15 last year in the Martha Washington Stakes at a mile on the dirt. With Calvin Borel steering, Rachel stalked the pace set by Affirmed Truth, assumed the lead before the stretch and hit the wire best by eight lengths in 1:36:40...or about a length faster than Zenyatta's mile in the Apple Blossom. Different times, different race-lengths, different fields, but it does indicate that Rachel Alexandra might have the upper hand if the two meet...Oaklawn's surface is original dirt.
And we're watching the early returns in the race for harness driving glory at Woodbine. Jody Jamieson took a much needed month off after his record 796 win year. After capturing the Dan patch Award as leading driver in North America, Jamieson was one vote away from the unanimous winner of the O'Brien as Outstanding Driver in 2009. Jamieson has returned to the driving wars and already has ten wins at Woodbine, though that puts him 12th, a fair distance behind Randy Waples who has surged to the top in Jamieson's absence. Waples has posted 45 wins in 244 starts. Mark MacDonald is second with 37 wins and Sylvain Filion is third with 33 wins. Jamieson is back steering with his stereo-typical obsession. he had five winners the other night at Flamboro and though he's only been driving since the first week of February, he already has 15 wins in 51 races at the Dundas, Ontario track.
So it might be fun watching Jamieson try and overcome the huge advantage he gave his fellow drivers by taking January off. There is a very good chance JJ will be the leading driver in Canada next December.
