Canada's 2020 Horse of the Year Mighty Heart (Dramedy) took home the same honors for the 2021 season at the 47th Annual Sovereign Awards, hosted by The Jockey Club of Canada Thursday at the Universal Eventspace just outside of Toronto. A homebred for Larry Cordes, Mighty Heart won the GII Autumn S. and GIII Dominion Day S. in Canada, as well as the Blame S. at Churchill Downs. The popular one-eyed 4-year-old had won the same award last year on the strength of his victories in the Queen's Plate and Prince of Wales S. The Josie Carroll-trained Mighty defeated Pink Lloyd (Old Forester) for Horse of the Year honors by a margin of 63 votes to 55 votes. Town Cruise (Town Prize) was third in the voting with 34. Mighty Heart was also named Champion Older Main Track Male.
Robert Tiller's Pink Lloyd, the now-retired Entourage Stables campaigner, added to his long list of accomplishments and was named Champion Male Sprinter for the fifth consecutive year. Pink Lloyd was the Canadian Horse of the Year in 2017 and had also previously been Champion Older Dirt Male and Champion Older Horse.
The Brandon Evan Greer-owned and -trained Town Cruise was named Champion Male Turf Horse after winning the GI Woodbine Mile S.
Canadian Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse was named Outstanding Trainer for the 11th straight year and for the 14th time overall. His 27 Canadian stakes wins in 2021 were a personal record and his list of champions continues to grow with an additional four champions in 2021: God of Love (Cupid) was named Champion 2-Year-old Male, Mrs. Barbara (Bodemeister) was named Champion 2-Year-Old Female, Frosted Over (Frosted) was named Champion 3-Year-Old Male, and Skygaze (American Pharoah) was named Champion Older Main Track Female.
Charlotte Weber's Live Oak Plantation, who sends a number of horses to Casse, won its second straight Sovereign Award for Outstanding Owner with 19 Canadian wins and more than $1.4 million in earnings. Outstanding Breeder honors went to Sam-Son Farm, which led Canadian breeders in purse earnings with just over $2.6 million. Sam-Son has been a major player in Canadian racing for more than 50 years. It was the iconic farm's ninth outstanding breeder Sovereign Award. The Outstanding Groom award went to Denzil Fonseca, who has been a part of the Woodbine backstretch for 40 years. He has been with trainer Mike Doyle for the last 14 of those years.
Other equine awards went to Munnyfor Ro (Munnings) for Champion 3-Year-Old Female, Amalfi Coast (Tapizar) as Champion Female Sprinter, and Jolie Olimpica (Drosselmeyer) as Champion Female Turf Horse. Avie's Empire (Empire Maker) was named Canadian Broodmare of the Year. The 14-year-old unraced mare has produced 2018 2-year-old champion Avie's Flatter (Flatter), who won the GII Nearctic S. and GII Connaught Cup S. in 2021, as well as SW Avie's Mineshaft (Mineshaft) and GSP Avie's Mesa (Sky Mesa).
The Sovereign Award for Outstanding Jockey went to wunderkind Kazushi Kimura, who was a first-time nominee after only his fourth season riding in Canada. He had already won the Sovereign Award as Outstanding Apprentice twice, as well as an Eclipse Award for the same honor in the U.S. His 19% win rate in 2021 included 140 victories and over $5.1 million in purses. Boxer-turned-jockey Mauricio Malvaez won Outstanding Apprentice for the second consecutive year with a total of 28 victories and over $470,000 in earnings for the season.
Ivan Dalos, proprietor of Tall Oaks Farm, was recipient of the E. P. Taylor Award of Merit. Tall Oaks won its first Sovereign for Outstanding Breeder in 2018 and repeated the honor in 2020. It was his mare, Avie's Empire, who took home the aforementioned Outstanding Broodmare award. His broodmare band numbers more than three dozen with many a part of several generations of breeding by Dalos.
The final Sovereign Awards bestowed Thursday included Outstanding Photograph to Will Wong for his image entitled “Welcome Back,” Outstanding Writing to Hayley Morrison for the story “New Races, New Faces: How I Fell for The Fort,” which appeared on the Canadian Thoroughbred website, and Outstanding Audio Visual/Digital Broadcast to Woodbine Entertainment for airing of The Queen's Plate.
As has been well-documented, Japanese interests have–over the course of many years–accumulated some of the best bloodstock from all corners of the globe, and as evidenced in Riyadh and Dubai in the last couple of months, the Japanese are breeding horses that can compete anywhere at any level.
Classics season in the island nation kicked off last weekend with the running of the G1 Oka Sho (Japanese 1000 Guineas), with the colts' equivalent–the G1 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas)–set for this weekend at Nakayama Racecourse. The 3-year-old offspring of some mares whose names will ring familiar dot the field of 18, with each of the four colts something of a winning chance.
Do Deuce (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) is a son of MGSW Dust and Diamonds (Vindication), who was purchased by Katsumi Yoshida for an even $1 million in foal to the late Pioneerof the Nile at Keeneland November in 2016, having been sold to Borges Torrealba Holdings for $900,000 at the same venue just days after her runner-up effort to Groupie Doll (Bowman's Band) in the 2012 GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint. A half-brother to MGSP Much Better (Pioneerof the Nile), Do Deuce capped an undefeated championship season in last years' G1 Asahi Hai Futurity and was the near-miss runner-up in the G2 Deep Impact Kinen on seasonal debut Mar. 6.
Danon Beluga (Jpn) (Heart's Cry {Jpn}) is the first foal from his dam Coasted (Tizway), winner of the P.G. Johnson S. and second in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf in 2016, who was knocked down to Yoshida for $1.3 million at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale in 2017. Just five months after his foaling date of Feb. 7, 2019, Danon Beluga was sent through the ring at the JRHA Select Foal Sale, hammering for $1.472 million, and is perfect in two tries, including a win at Group 2 level Feb. 13. Yuga Kawada, who was aboard the victorious Loves Only You (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) in last year's GI Filly & Mare Turf, has the ride from gate one.
Yoshida was striking while the iron was hot at FTKNOV when acquiring then 8-year-old Palace Rumor (Royal Anthem) for $1.1 million in foal to Mineshaft a handful of months after the mare's produce of 2010, a Curlin colt named Palace Malice, took out the GI Belmont S. A half-brother to the MGSP stayer Iron Barows (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}), Justin Palace (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) also starred at the JRHA Sales, fetching nearly $1.8 million as a yearling in 2020. The dark bay colt won each of his first two starts over 10 furlongs and was last seen finishing runner-up in the G1 Hopeful S. over Sunday's course and distance when last seen Dec. 28.
The winner of the latter event was Killer Ability (Jpn) (Deep Impact {Jpn}), a son of 2011 GI Hollywood Starlet S. heroine Killer Graces (Congaree), who realized $850,000 from Yoshida at FTKNOV back in 2012. The late January foal was capping a four-race preparation in the Hopeful, having won his maiden by seven lengths at second asking at the end of August before just missing in listed company in October. Killer Ability is the mount of the up-and-coming Takeshi Yokoyama, the regular rider of last year's Satsuki Sho winner, champion 3-year-old and Horse of the Year Efforia (Jpn) (Epiphaneia {Jpn}).
“The Arkansas Derby winner, and his name is Cyberknife!”
Racing through his home in Del Ray Beach, Fla., owner Al Gold burst into the room just in time to watch his colt cross the wire in front and celebrate with racing manager Joe Hardoon.
Gold had been planning to watch the race outside on his iPad, a superstitious move that had worked with his most recent winner, but the iPad froze shortly after the field broke from the gate. He rushed into the house, but couldn't find the remote for the closest television. Gold then made his way to the room in which Hardoon was watching the race, managing to catch the final strides of his first Grade 1 victory.
It was a happy end to a weekend that had begun on the completely opposite end of the spectrum. Gold had planned to take his family and Hardoon to Arkansas for the race, but their plane lost cabin pressure shortly after takeoff and was forced to perform an emergency landing.
The loss of cabin pressure is a serious problem; it can cause hypoxia, leaving occupants without enough oxygen to maintain consciousness.
“I always hated to fly,” Gold said. “We were up in the air for about 15 minutes, and I started sweating and my ears were hurting, and a few minutes later the wheels went down.
“We were happy to be alive.”
That sentiment extends to Cyberknife's name, as well. Gold, a 66-year-old retired construction manager from New Jersey, was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2020. The CyberKnife System, a non-invasive robotic treatment, has kept him in remission.
The CyberKnife robot moves and bends around the patient to deliver radiation doses from potentially thousands of unique beam angles, significantly expanding the possible positions to concentrate radiation to the tumor while minimizing dose to surrounding healthy tissue.
“A lot of people don't know about it, and when you hear 'prostate cancer' it's easy to get afraid right away,” Gold said. “The CyberKnife is just five sessions at 18 minutes each, and it was effective; I've had no signs of anything since then.
“Usually, I like to give my horses weird names, but this was the one serious name.”
Cyberknife, the colt, earned the weighty name by virtue of his early talent. Gold heard good things about his potential during early training, and decided he'd send the colt to Brad Cox.
“I wanted to give him to the best trainer out there, and Brad has won two Eclipse Awards,” Gold said. “He takes his time, he's very dedicated, very thorough, and just a very-detail oriented trainer.”
Gold appreciates those details. He said he had a very bad experience with a bloodstock agent years ago, which wound up going to court. Still, he refused to give up on the sport he'd grown to love.
Cyberknife was one of the first horses selected by 24-year-old Joe Hardoon, son of Jonathan Hardoon of the Ragozin sheets. Gold and the Hardoon family had become friends after spending time together at Saratoga, and the younger Hardoon is also Gold's racing manager.
Out of the multiple stakes-winning Flower Alley mare Awesome Flower, Cyberknife was a $400,000 purchase at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky yearling sale. While talented, the colt was somewhat immature mentally and has not been straightforward in his training.
Cyberknife crossed the wire first in his debut at Churchill Downs on Sept. 25, but was disqualified for interference in the stretch. In his second start, the colt ran erratically in the final eighth to miss the win by a half-length. Cyberknife put it all together on the day after Christmas at the Fair Grounds, finally breaking his maiden in his third career start.
Then came a backward step in the G3 Lecomte Stakes, in which Cyberknife could do no better than sixth.
“He just needs to race and get some miles underneath him in the afternoons,” Cox told Fair Grounds publicity. “I think the talent is there, but he's got to take a step forward mentally, and I think he will… I think he's going to be a player in the 3-year-old division.”
Cox dropped the colt back into allowance company, and he was much more professional to post a three-length victory.
It was time for the biggest test of Cyberknife's career, the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby. True to form, Cyberknife was playful in the post parade and unseated jockey Florent Geroux. Geroux hopped back aboard on his own, and carried on to win the race by 2 ¾ lengths. He still raced somewhat erratically in the stretch, but Cyberknife was well clear of the rest of the talented field.
Florent Geroux hops back aboard after a playful Cyberknife unseated him during the Arkansas Derby post parade
“If you watch his race replays, they tell you more about him than anything in regards to his antics down the lane,” Cox said the morning after the win. “Obviously in the post parade yesterday, he did get Flo off and he's a handful, he really is. He's not bad. He's just full of energy.”
Gold echoed his trainer's thoughts on the talented, cheeky colt.
“He's been green every race of his career, but he's better than he was,” Gold said. “He's better every week.”
Heading toward the first Saturday in May, Gold said it would be just his second time attending the Kentucky Derby. Last time the horse he owned won the first race on the card, so Gold will be hoping that luck holds true in his second trip to Louisville, Ky.
“I started betting on the races 50 years ago, and I've had a few other good ones along the way, a Grade 2 and a Grade 3 winner, but something always happened that they didn't make it any further,” Gold said. “This is the one; he's stuck around and stayed healthy, and we're excited about the Derby.”
SULPHUR SPRINGS, Texas — The head trainer is the guy who prepared 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra to be a racehorse. He and his two assistant trainers combine for more than 100 years of experience and the development of more than 300 stakes horses.
Yearlings and weanlings romp in undulating pastures. Two-year-olds learning the fundamentals and older horses coming off layoffs gallop and work over a traditional training track as well as lope up a 1 3/8-mile turf gallop.
The spacious barns have vaulted ceilings featuring skylights that can open and close via remote control but are programmed to automatically shut when rain starts. The 12′ X 12′ stalls with springy flooring underneath the bedding provide horses maximum comfort. Think of it as box springs for equines.
A therapy center opened a year ago in the facility owner's quest to make long racing careers the norm and to keep small problems from becoming big problems. Depending on horses' needs, they could head to the above-ground cold saltwater spa where 35 degree water churns around their legs, in-ground and above-ground aqua treadmills or two stalls with full vibration-plate floors. They might be treated with a regenerative laser or wear an electro-magnetic blanket. Or any combination of the above.
“You'd think you just drove into Lexington, not Sulphur Springs, Texas,” said trainer Lon Wiggins. “It's a hidden gem right now, but it's not going to be for long.”
No, it's not Central Kentucky; rather, Highlander Training Center an hour east of Dallas. Sulphur Springs, population 16,000, is home to the Southwest Dairy Museum and Education Center, which chronicles the town's roots as Texas's one-time dairy capital. The region is populated with cattle farms interspersed with horses of various breeds.
“I know of only one other facility similar to this, which would be WinStar,” said Dr. Ali Broyles, the veterinarian and equine surgeon who oversees Highlander's equine medical care.
“For this kind of weanling-throughout-racing timeline, in addition to these therapy modalities, there are not very many facilities of this scope in the country,” said Broyles, whose post-vet school training was at Lexington's world-famous Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital. “It's a relatively new facility, but I know they have already seen a lot of growth and acceptance from the Thoroughbred community on a national level.”
For years, horse owner Larry Hirsch trusted his yearlings, 2-year-olds and layups to the father-son team of Ed and Scooter Dodwell at their Diamond D Ranch in Lone Oak, Texas. After Ed died and the ranch was put up for sale, Hirsch opted to establish his own training center rather than relocating to an existing facility. He told Scooter Dodwell, who headed Diamond D for 13 years after his dad's retirement, to “find us” a property.
After looking statewide, Dodwell, now Highlander's president in addition to head trainer, found the ideal property a mere 12 miles away from the location of the Diamond D. But it was hardly turn-key. The old Rafter L Ranch had been vacant for years, its main barn in disrepair, the training track overgrown. Trees had taken over the fields.
“But you could see it had 'good bones,'” Hirsch said of the land. “It's beautiful property, great topography–as opposed to flat ground in Texas. It had rolling grounds that came down, which means that water and rain–which we have a lot of in east Texas– would roll off the property. It was treed, which meant we have shade for our horses. It had a wonderful track that hadn't been used for 20 or 25 years. But the soils, everybody we showed them to said they're extraordinarily good for preserving the health and training of horses. It wasn't hard to come to the conclusion that this was the right place to be.”
Since he couldn't have his horses at Diamond D, Hirsch brought the ranch to the new venue, with much of the Diamond D crew relocating with Dodwell. That included Jon Newbold, the assistant trainer and general manager tasked with getting the Sulphur Springs land to where building could begin and be ready for horses to return.
Newbold estimates that he and his crew cleared out 300 trees. He personally trimmed up those remaining. Almost all of the fencing was replaced and an area where broken and rusty machinery had been stashed was cleared and cleaned up. The existing barn went through an extensive makeover and new barns were constructed.
“The front pasture by the main road, we took out 70 trees to make it usable. I mean, it was wilderness,” Newbold said. “It was really beautiful, but it was a challenge to get it fenced to where we could make it functional. To see all of the progress and the transformation, there has been so much done every single day to get it to where it is now.”
Trainer Bret Calhoun–whose main divisions are in Kentucky, Louisiana and Texas and whose clients include Hirsch–calls Highlander “just a great facility anywhere it would be in the country. But for the Midwest and South, the facility is badly needed: a complete facility, a breaking and training operation with a great rehab facility as well. They have spared no expenses and made it top notch.”
Hirsch named Highlander Training Center after his Dallas-based global private equity firm Highlander Partners.
It is clear that Hirsch has used the same principles that have worked so well with his firm at the training center. Highlander Partners invests only their own money, are big on flexibility and loathe to bureaucracy. Strategies emphasize having no limits, restrictions or artificial deadlines while playing the long game and investing in a broad range of industries and entrepreneurial endeavors. While an involved boss, Hirsch's management style is to get the right people in the right spots and let them do their job, giving them the tools they need for success.
When he bought the property in 2017, Texas racing and breeding industries had been pummeled, the heady days when Lone Star Park hosted the 2004 Breeders' Cup long gone. The reality was bleak.
Texas tracks could not compete with the slots-enriched purses offered in neighboring Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arkansas. Texas purses in 2017 totaled $14.5 million–less than half the $32 million paid out to horse owners 15 years earlier. The foal crop of Texas-born horses plunged from more than 2,000 to 407 five years ago and was destined to shrink more.
Gee, what better time to invest in a training center?
But Hirsch saw the investment as sending a powerful message to the Texas legislature and the state's elected leadership. Highlander Training Center showed the promise of Texas racing, which produced legendary horses such as Triple Crown winner Assault, Kentucky Derby and Belmont winner Middleground and champion Stymie–all while pari-mutuel horse racing was banned in the state.
“We definitely had a vision for creating something special for the state of Texas,” Hirsch said last month. “While we didn't know for sure the legislation would be passed to help our industry, we knew that the industry, the people, the owners, the trainers, etc., would come back to Texas if we could create something unique, at least for our area of the country. That was the vision, the thesis behind the training center. I think if you look at it today, it's been fully realized, and we're not done yet.”
In 2019, Texas passed legislation directing half of the funds from the sales tax on horse feed, tack and other equine products into the money horsemen race for at the state's tracks. The returns were almost immediate, with dramatically enhanced purses totaling $26.5 million last year, a resurgence at the Texas Thoroughbred auctions and an atmosphere of optimism.
However, Hirsch doesn't see Highlander as serving only Texas and the Southwest.
“We think the quality of care, the quality of what we're doing, the therapy center we've created, the commitment to excellence is attracting owners already from Kentucky, from Minnesota, Louisiana,” he said. “So it is a national operation in Texas, as opposed to a Texas-only operation.”
Hirsch brought aboard Highlander CEO Jeff Hooper in 2019. Hooper is one of Texas's most respected executives, having worked on both the racetrack (Lone Star Park) and horsemen's (Texas Thoroughbred Association) side. Jose “Cuco” Mendez, assistant trainer and co-general manager, was hired to work alongside Dodwell and Newbold after 28 years working as an exercise rider, assistant and trainer. Office manager Dee O'Brien, from a horse-racing family and with extensive experience on the equine auction side, heads up administrative functions, including client relations and new project initiatives.
“We think horsemanship is the key and foundation of what we do here,” Hooper said. “We want to bring each horse to the best of their abilities, whatever that may be. We're fortunate to have experienced and highly professional people in all of our leadership roles here. But we always want to learn from others, too, and blend old-school horsemanship with the cutting edge technologies available. Racing can be a game of inches. So, anything we can do to help these horses achieve what they're capable of, we want to have those tools at our disposal.”
That included last year's opening of 11,000-square foot Highlander Fitness and Therapy Center, the on-sight operation overseen by former jockey, trainer and highly respected horsewoman Shannon Ritter, who held a similar position at WinStar Farm. Soft-tissue injuries that once would have forced a horse's retirement are treated with such tools as the ground-breaking RLT Vet Regenerative Laser Therapy. Diagnostic equipment on hand include a portable digital X-ray machine, ultrasound and dynamic endoscopy (examining the upper airway to detect abnormalities that may only be found during high-speed exercise).
“Everything is state of the art,” Ritter said. “It's a facility that could be in Lexington, with everything it has. But Larry Hirsch has built it here, a beautiful facility in Texas.”
The therapy center was a critical part of Hirsch's game plan.
“What is going to make you different from competition from Ocala, Kentucky, Louisiana etc.?” Hirsch said. “Those of us who believe we want to have horses that run at four and five years old, and retain them in a healthy manner throughout their lives, know the importance of having some place to lay up horses, some place to improve them, some place to get over injuries. That was the concept: Differentiation with quality, with creating something special here.
“High-level owners, premium owners, people who are creating the stakes-winners of the future know quality. They've bought quality, and they want quality to prepare, train and care for them.”
The Highlander crew, which includes six full-time riders and 14 full-time grooms, works as a team on all facets of training, handling yearlings, 2-year-olds and older horses alike. An integral part of the Highlander philosophy is to keep young horses outside as much as possible to romp and play.
“We raise them outside, so they build more bone,” Dodwell said. “We feel we can raise good, sound, horses here with high-quality feed, hay and management, while still letting the horses be horses.”
Many of Dodwell's Diamond D clients are also strong believers in this approach, and have followed him to Highlander.
“They do an outstanding job with the horses,” said owner Fred Walden. “The horses get everything they need. If I do it myself, I might say, 'Well, I'm going to skimp on worming' or something, or I might not get the farrier at home to trim them when I should. But at Highlander they don't miss a beat.
“After the babies come off the mares at six months, I just leave them right there (at Highlander) and let them grow up with their buddies. I was down there the other day, was going to pick up a colt–thought I'd save some money. My yearling was out there with his buddies, running around and they're just building themselves up, growing into maturity and doing really well. I said, 'Well, I might save some money if I take him home, but I might have to pay more in the long run if he's not out there with his buddies growing up like he is now.'
“Now you've got a place where you can take them when they're six months old and let them grow up and Highlander take care of them and put them on the track,” Walden said. “You can go and enjoy them at the track, or you can visit them any time at Highlander. I have two broodmares and 15 acres. I rely on them really heavy at Highlander to take care of what I do and don't know.”
