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Mighty Heart Doubles Up as Canadian Horse of the Year

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.

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Dalos To Receive Award of Merit

Prominent owner/breeder Ivan Dalos will be presented with the E. P. Taylor Award of Merit during the 47th Sovereign Awards ceremony to be held Thursday, Apr. 14 in Vaughan, Ontario.

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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Avie’s Flatter Returns to Winner’s Circle In Nearctic Stakes At Woodbine

Avie's Flatter returned to the familiar confines of the winner's circle at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario with a victory in the Grade 2 Nearctic Stakes.

In the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile last out, the 5-year-old horse finished ninth behind upset winner Town Cruise, who was also part of the Nearctic field. At the break, Momos grabbed the lead, with Town Cruise and Turned Aside second and third early. Avie's Flatter and Luis Contreras were third entering the race's only turn, going wide into the Woodbine straight.

In the stretch, Avie's Flatter showed no trouble with the yielding turf, building up momentum on the outside of Town Cruise and taking the lead with a furlong to go to win by a half-length. Turned Aside came on late to take second. Olympic Runner passed Momos to take third. Town Cruise, Jolie Olimpica, White Flag, Reconfigure, Admiralty Pier, and Lucky Curlin rounded out the order of finish.

The final time for the six-furlong Nearctic was 1:10.52. Find this race's chart here.

Avie's Flatter paid $16.50, $7.30, and $5.60. Turned Aside paid $17.50 and $10.40. Olympic Runner paid $5.20.

Bred in Ontario by Tall Oaks Farm, Avie's Flatter is by Flatter out of the Empire Maker mare Avie's Empire. Owned by Ivan Dalos, the 5-year-old horse is trained by Josie Carroll. With his win in the G2 Nearctic, Avie's Flatter has three wins in five starts in 2021, for a lifetime record of seven wins in 18 starts and career earnings of $932,937.

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‘Those Are Good Memories’: Breeder Dalos Remembers Victory Gallop’s Historic Belmont Run

Ivan Dalos, just as he has every year since 1998, will be wearing a proud smile when the horses load into the gate for Saturday's 153^rd running of the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

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.

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