Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation Raises Over $50,000

The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation's annual Winter Appeal, highlighting the growth of the Second Chances program in New York, has raised over $50,000 for the organization's herd of over 450 retired racehorses thanks in part to a $25,000 grant from Business for Good.

“The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation offers sanctuary for life for a herd of over 450 retired racehorses throughout the country,” said Pat Stickney, the TRF's Executive Director. “We have a rich history in New York and are excited to continue to grow and expand…in the state through the generosity of individual donors and this wonderful grant from Business for Good.”

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Saratoga Dining Reservations On Sale Apr. 20

Dining reservations for the 2022 season at Saratoga will go on sale Wednesday, Apr. 20, at 10 a.m., The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) announced Friday. Reservations for the Turf Terrace, Club Terrace, and The Porch will be accepted via Ticketmaster.com. NYRA Bets members and current season ticket and season pass holders will have an opportunity to secure their dining reservations during a pre-sale event.

Full and partial season ticket plans for all or part of the meet at the Miller Time Fourstardave Sports Bar and Pick Six Picnic Paddock are on sale now, as are seats in the clubhouse, grandstand, and Cutwater Stretch. Those reservations are available at NYRA.com. A variety of ticket plans are offered.

The 2022 summer meet at Saratoga begins Thursday, July 14. After a four-day opening weekend, racing will be conducted Wednesdays through Sundays, and will conclude on Labor Day. For more information about dining at Saratoga Race Course, call (844) 697-2849, email BoxOffice@nyrainc.com, or visit NYRA.com/Saratoga/Visit/Dining.

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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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Cairo Prince, Lope de Vega Fillies Share OBS Bullet Thursday

The fifth session of the under-tack show for next week's Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, suspended just under three hours by heavy rain, produced a pair of :9 4/5 bullet breezers, while two juveniles shared the fastest quarter-mile time of :21 flat Thursday in Central Florida.

First to hit the bullet time of :9 4/5 once action resumed around noon Thursday at OBS was a daughter of Cairo Prince (hip 839) out of the unraced Nippy (Pulpit). The gray filly is a half-sister to graded stakes winner Gibberish (Lea). She is consigned by Hal Hatch's Halcyon Hammock Farm and was purchased by Hatch for $62,000 at last year's Keeneland September sale.

Also working in :9 4/5 during the same set was hip 859, an Irish-bred daughter of Lope de Vega (Ire) out of stakes winner and multiple group placed Only Mine (Ire) (Pour Moi {Ire}). Purchased by West Bloodstock for €250,000 at last year's Goffs Orby sale, she is consigned to the Spring sale by Niall Brennan Stables.

“I never expect :9 and change, but I expected her to work well,” said Niall Brennan, who is consigning the juvenile on behalf of a client. “She prepped well and she looks fast. She looks like a turf sprinter. And she's very honest. She's a nice, average-sized, strong well-made filly with great balance. And she's an efficient mover.”

Hip 859 is one of 10 Irish-bred offerings in the Spring sale. Brennan said an increased focus on turf racing in the U.S. should make the filly appealing to domestic buyers.

“The stallion is so good–he's a top stallion in Europe–and the mare is young and she could run,” Brennan said of the filly's pedigree. “Turf racing is very popular now in America, too. There is a lot more turf racing, even for 2-year-olds, and the money is great, especially in Kentucky and New York. I don't think people are really that afraid to buy turf horses anymore, even at the 2-year-old sales. If you win a stake and you're in that winner's circle, it doesn't matter if it's a turf race or a dirt race, you're just as happy.”

Hip 851, a colt from the first crop of GI Belmont S. winner Tapwrit, shared Thursday's quarter-mile bullet time of :21 flat. Consigned by Eddie Woods, the gray juvenile is out of Oh Kay See (Notional), a half-sister to Grade I winner So Many Ways (Sightseeing). He was purchased by Quarter Pole Enterprises for $100,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton July sale.

Pick View LLC sent out a filly by Dortmund (hip 864) to also work the quarter-mile in :21 flat. The chestnut is out of Our Conquistadora (Wilburn), a half-sister to graded placed Augment (Aptitude). She was purchased by Thorostock for $25,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Fall sale.

The breeze show, which was suspended shortly after 9 a.m. Thursday, resumed just before noon and concluded by 4 p.m., but conditions remained good throughout the day, according to Brennan.

“There was a lot of rain, which kind of surprised everybody,” he said. “Looking at the forecast last night, there was nothing about it and then suddenly this morning we were all seeing this come in. We got some of the breeze show in and they made the right call to suspend it. It got heavy and there were thunder storms. It rained for a good hour, hour and a half. There was a lot of water, but they gave the track a chance to drain, they harrowed it. It's an amazing surface that they had that much rain and half an hour after it stopped we were back breezing. The track was in excellent condition.”

The under-tack show continues through Saturday with sessions beginning daily at 8 a.m. The Spring sale will be held next Tuesday through Friday with bidding commencing each day at 10:30 a.m.

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