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.

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The owner of the Ontario-based Tall Oaks Farm, Dalos has been involved with Thoroughbreds for 45 years and has bred the likes of Victory Gallop and Channel Maker, winning more than a dozen Sovereign Awards, including as outstanding breeder. He has raced the likes of homebreds Ami's Flatter, Ami's Mesa and Amis Gizmo to a variety of stakes successes both north and south of the border.

The Jockey Club of Canada will also present Denzil Fonseca was the award for outstanding groom, sponsored by OLG. Currently employed by trainer Michael Doyle, Fonseca is marking his 40th year on the Woodbine backstretch this year. Among the horses he has cared for are Queen's Plate winner Holy Helena and Tiz Imaginary.

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Bred and owned by Ivan Dalos (Tall Oaks Farm), the five-year-old son of Flatter, trained by Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee Josie Carroll, romped to an impressive 5 ¼-length score over the Tapeta on June 13 at Woodbine.

The victory, at seven furlongs, was the first race in nearly a year for Avie's Flatter, whose previous outing was a fourth-place finish in the Grade 3 Seagram Cup last July.

Sporting a record of 5-3-2 from 14 starts, the bay's most recent effort had Dalos beaming.

“It was nice to see him come back. You always hope for that kind of effort, but you never know. We always knew he was a good horse. Last year wasn't a good year for him. He had all kinds of problems, but it looks like he's back to his old self.”

Avie's Flatter won his career debut by 2 ½ lengths on the main track at Woodbine in August 2018. He then rallied to finish fourth in the Grade 1 Summer Stakes on the Toronto oval turf one month later.

He ended his two-year-old campaign with consecutive wins at Woodbine, taking the Cup and Saucer Stakes by 5 ¼ lengths on the grass in October and the Coronation Futurity by a half-length in November, en route to Sovereign Award honours as Canada's champion two-year-old male.

The Ontario-bred made his three-year-old debut in the Grade 3 Transylvania Stakes in April 2019 following a 4 ½-month layoff. He rallied to win the 1 1/16-mile turf by a half-length.

That 2019 season yielded a second in the first two jewels of the Canadian Triple Crown, the Queen's Plate and Prince of Wales Stakes, respectively, before a third in the final jewel, the Breeders' Stakes.

In three 2020 appearances, Avie's Flatter finished third in an allowance race in June, second in the Grade 2 Eclipse on July 4 and fourth in the Seagram Cup just over three weeks later.

“When he was a two-year-old and he started breezing, he showed that he had talent,” remembered Dalos. “When you breed a horse, you always hope you breed a good one, but they don't all turn out to be like that. I don't recall him being a troublesome horse. I think he was pretty mature. He always had a good mind.”

Dalos is hoping for a repeat of his latest performance, the first victory in 26 months for Avie's Flatter, who is a half-brother (same dam, different sire) to Canadian classic winner Avie's Mineshaft.

“That would be nice to see. Hopefully, he can come up with the same type of race he had in his last start.”

Trainer Mark Casse, who won the 2015 Connaught with Lockout, sends out Chuck Willis, Olympic Runner, Proven Strategies and Tap It to Win. Silent Poet, trained by Nicholas Gonzalez for Stronach Stables, is back to defend his title.

Hall of Fame jockey Robin Platts has won a record eight editions of the Connaught, including back-to-back runnings (1968-69) with James Bay. Plate Glass won the two first runnings, in 1912 and 1913.

The Connaught Cup is race 7 on Sunday's 12-race card.

First post time is 1:10 p.m. Fans can also watch and wager on all the action via HPIbet.com.

FIELD FOR THE $175,000 CONNAUGHT CUP

POST – HORSE – JOCKEY – TRAINER

1 – Avie's Flatter – Luis Contreras – Josie Carroll

2 – Silent Poet – Justin Stein – Nicholas Gonzalez

3 – Olympic Runner – Rafael Hernandez – Mark Casse

4 – Tap It to Win – Patrick Husbands – Mark Casse

5 – Proven Strategies – Emma-Jayne Wilson – Mark Casse

6 – Gray's Fable – Gary Boulanger – Roger Attfield

7 – Holiday Stone – David Moran – George Weaver

8 – Chuck Willis – Kazushi Kimura– Mark Casse

9 – Eskiminzin – Slade Callaghan – Carlos Grant

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For over 40 years, he's been one of North America's most successful Thoroughbred owners and breeders, a passionate horseman with a sizable trophy case to showcase his impressive array of accolades and awards.

The number of champions Dalos has bred is a lengthy and enviable list, one that includes Victory Gallop, a colt that went on to achieve great success as a racehorse and sire, including his stirring score in the 1998 Belmont Stakes.

“It is a real trip down memory lane,” started Dalos. “I recall he was very precocious. I was just a little operation at the time and had a little farm with the mare [Victorious Lil]. I went to visit him [he was foaled and raised at Joanne Clayton's Darrowby Farms in Loretto, Ontario] when he was about four or five weeks old, and the lady kept him at the barn so that I could see them come out. They came out and they went onto this hilly pasture. This little guy, he just took off and the mare couldn't keep up with him. He was running, she was chasing him and he was not to be caught.”

Victory Gallop would eventually show that impressive turn of foot, but instead of being the one chased, he would methodically track down his rivals, one by one, until he was the one who couldn't be caught.

It's precisely what the son of Cryptoclearance did 23 years ago at Belmont Park.

And what a victory it was.

After finishing a hard-charging second to Real Quiet in the Kentucky Derby – Victory Gallop was last behind 14 horses at the half-mile pole – the bay settled for the runner-up prize to Real Quiet once again, this time in the Preakness Stakes.

In the Belmont, he went one better, denying Real Quiet the chance for Triple Crown immortality.

Victory Gallop also delivered a first that day, becoming the first Canadian-bred to win the third jewel of the U.S. Triple Crown. He is the only one to hold that distinction.

“This is a great boost for breeding in Ontario,” said Clayton at the time. “There you go folks, we can raise a champion racehorse on Ontario grass, with Ontario water and Ontario feed.”

Dalos, who has won some of Canada's biggest races and produced a long line of champions, remains modest of his connection to the Belmont champ.

“It was at the beginning of my horse-breeding experience, so I was nowhere near as experienced as I am now in recognizing talent. It's very hard to tell with young horses, to know if they will go on to greatness. I've had horses that showed absolutely nothing as babies, but they turned out to be great racehorses, and others that you felt might be good, they didn't have the heart or gumption to compete. It's hard to judge them when they are so young. But obviously, things worked out well for Victory Gallop.”

Ivan and Irene Dalos of Ontario's Tall Oaks Farm

The multiple graded stakes-winning owner isn't interested in taking a victory lap over the accomplishments of Victory Gallop, who was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2010.

Instead, what drives Dalos is in crafting the blueprint for his next stable star. He remains a student of the game, immersing himself in learning the latest techniques in the world of breeding.

It's that dedication to detail, among other things, as to why Tall Oaks Farm is still a major player in Thoroughbred racing.

The outfit's broodmare band continues to carry Victory Gallop's legacy forward. Victorious Ami, Galloping Ami, Keen Victory, Keen Mischief, Keen Success, and Silver Ami are Victory Gallop offspring. He is the grandsire of racehorse and future broodmare, Golden Ami.

Tall Oaks is also home to star stallions like Ami's Flatter, Amis Gizmo and Ami's Holiday, and champion racehorses like Channel Maker, Johnny Bear, Gamble's Ghost and Ami's Mesa.

Dalos is excited to see who might follow in their hoofsteps.

“Of course, I was proud to see Victory Gallop win the Belmont. I had never had a horse in an American Stakes at that point. I only had horses running in Canada that I had bred, but this was the first big horse, so to speak. I was immensely proud. We made history. But I try not to look back, other than what the learning experience of previous endeavors has taught me. Every horse I've been connected to has done that for me. I always try to repeat success or find more.”

Being in the position to chase the next win, he'll happily tell you, is a victory in itself.

And while he continues to be a forward thinker, Dalos will take a moment this weekend, perhaps the same time it takes to run the Belmont, to remember the handsome, high-speed colt that streaked across a hilly meadow just over 25 years ago.

“I recall watching the Belmont all those years ago and thinking, 'This is the little guy that I watched running around when he was four or five weeks of age.' I can still picture that day at the farm and then watching him win the race. Those are good memories.”

This article by Chris Lomon (@chrislomon on Twitter) originally appeared at www.woodbine.com and is republished with permission of the author.

The post ‘Those Are Good Memories’: Breeder Dalos Remembers Victory Gallop’s Historic Belmont Run appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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The fifth running of the 1 3/16-mile Via Borghese for fillies and mares 3 and up on the grass serves as a supporting stake to the $100,000 Mr. Prospector (G3), which features a lineup led by Grade 1 winners Firenze Fire and Mind Control and defending champion Diamond Oops.

Post time for the first of 11 races is 12:05 p.m.

Trained by Canadian Hall of Famer Josie Carroll, Court Return is a younger half-sister to multiple Grade 1 turf winners Channel Maker and Johnny Bear, both Sovereign Award winners in Canada. The 4-year-old filly has run exclusively at Woodbine, with 10 of her 12 lifetime starts coming on the grass.

Court Return has breezed once on the turf at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream's satellite training facility in Palm Beach County, since arriving in South Florida. She is out of the late Horse Chestnut mare In Return, the Sovereign Award winner as Canada's champion broodmare of 2018. The same year, Dalos was voted champion breeder.

“She shipped down very well and seems to be training forwardly,” Carroll said. “We're very excited about her. She is the last foal from that mare. The mare died shortly after giving birth, so [Court Return] was actually orphaned and bottle-raised. Mr. Dalos doesn't have any more out of that mare, so he's counting on her.”

Court Return debuted in September 2018 and needed eight tries to break her maiden, graduating in a maiden optional claimer last November. The daughter of Court Vision became a stakes winner in her second start of 2020, rallying for a 1 ¼-length triumph in the 1 1/16-mile Eternal Search.

“Mr. Dalos bred this whole family and they all develop late in their careers. I think this is a filly that's just now starting to come into her own,” Carroll said. “I think she was just one that needed to mature. She's just a filly that needed some time and Mr. Dalos was very patient with her.”

Carroll stepped Court Return up to graded company off her stakes victory, and she finished third in the 1 1/8-mile Canadian (G2) Sept. 12 after getting away slowly. Stretched out to 1 ¼ miles for the E. P. Taylor, Court Return was again tardy from the gate but came with a strong rally only to fall just short of winner Etoile.

“I felt really good going into the race. That was certainly her best performance yet,” Carroll said. “I think the rider did a good job of not letting her get out of touch too much with the field, which is a danger with her. Sometimes they let her get too far back. You really sort of have to nudge her to stay in touch with the field, so that when she does make her run she is in a position to get there.”

Two-time Championship Meet leading jockey Luis Saez will get that assignment Saturday from Post 3.

“She gets away slow and that's just her,” Carroll said. “It just takes her a while to get into gear. She's never forwardly placed.”

Christophe Clement won the inaugural Via Borghese with Paige in 2016, and the trainer has Stone Farm homebred Traipsing for this year's edition. The 4-year-old daughter of Grade 1 turf winner Stroll comes back three weeks off a runner-up finish to stablemate Mutamakina after setting the pace in the 1 3/8-mile Long Island (G3) at Aqueduct.

“It's back a little bit quick, but she arrived at Payson Park well and she looks well. I think she's a nice mare,” Clement said. “Because it is a little bit quick we'll monitor her doing the week and as long as she's doing well we plan on running.”

Traipsing will be trying stakes company for the third time in what will be her eighth start; she finished sixth in the 1 1/8-mile Treasure Coast in June at Gulfstream in her stakes debut. Robby Albarado is named to ride from Post 2.

“She's very versatile. You can do whatever you want with her. She can be forward or she can come from out of it,” Clement said. “She's good enough that she can be versatile and she's a very good mover, which makes her even more efficient going longer.”

Gulfstream's 16-time training champion Todd Pletcher entered the pair of Always Shopping and Cap de Creus. Gainesway Stable's Cap de Creus is winless with four seconds in seven career tries at Gulfstream, and ran fourth in last year's Orchid (G3). The 4-year-old Tapit filly was fifth last out in the 1 ½-mile Zagora Oct. 31 at Belmont Park.

Repole Stable's Always Shopping won the 1 1/8-mile Gazelle (G2) on the dirt in 2019, finished off the board in the Black-Eyed Susan (G2) and didn't race again for 11 months, returning in April. Three of her last five races have come on the turf, winning the 1 1/16-mile Monroe Sept. 7 at Gulfstream and most recently running second by a head in the 1 ½-mile Dowager (G3) Oct. 18 at Keeneland.

Rounding out the field are 2020 Ginger Punch winner Kelsey's Cross, third to Always Shopping in the Monroe; Great Island, winner of two straight making her stakes debut; Gun Society, second to Court Return in the Eternal Sunshine; Cambeliza and Lady Panda.

The stakes is named after the daughter of Seattle Dancer trained by Angel Penna Jr. who won 11 of 22 starts, including Gulfstream's Suwannee River (G3) and the Hialeah Budweiser Breeders' Cup Handicap.

The post Orphaned, Bottle-Fed Filly Court Return Headlines Saturday’s Via Borghese Stakes appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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The National Breeder of the Year and National Small Breeder of the Year will be selected from the state breeders listed below and announced during the awards.

State Breeders of the Year:
Arkansas: Bill McDowell
California: Reddam Racing LLC
Canadian: Ivan Dalos
Florida: Charlotte Weber/ Live Oak Stud
Indiana: Michael E. and Penny S. Lauer
Iowa: Allen Poindexter
Kansas: Jerry Johnson
Kentucky: W.S. Farish

Louisiana: Evelyn Benoit
Maryland: Sagamore Farm
Massachusetts: Joseph DiRico
Minnesota: Robert Lothenbach
New Jersey: John Bowers Jr.
New Mexico: J. Kirk and Judy Robison
New York: Chester and Mary Broman
North Carolina: Dr. E. Clinton Lowry and Carol Lowry
Ohio: Dr. George Sikora DVM
Oregon: Dr. and Mrs. Jack B. Root Jr.
Pennsylvania: Larry Karp/ Barlar LLC
South Carolina: Franklin Smith Sr.
Texas: Roy W. Cobb
Virginia: Ann Mudge Backer
Washington: Jody Peetz

“The 23 breeders from the U.S. and Canada enjoyed a tremendous year in 2019 from their homebred runners and we are honored to recognize their outstanding achievements and contributions to our sport at the TOBA National Awards,” said Dan Metzger, President of TOBA.

Also honored during the TOBA National Awards program will be the National Owner of the Year, National Broodmare of the Year, Cot Campbell Racing Partnership of the Year, Industry Service Award, Claiming Crown Horse of the Year and the Sport Horse of the Year.

TOBA's National Awards will be presented virtually from Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa on TOBA's Facebook page and at TOBA.org/2020Awards.

TOBA National Awards sponsors include Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa, LuminUltra, Limestone Bank, Stonestreet Farms, John Deere and NTRA, Big Ass Fans, National HBPA, 1/ST, The Jockey Club Information Systems and Stoll Keenon Ogden.

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