Sovereign Awards

The Jockey Club of Canada has announced the finalists for the 2022 Sovereign Awards recognizing Canada's outstanding achievements in Canadian Thoroughbred Racing and Breeding. The winner of each category, along with Canada's Horse of the Year for 2022, will be announced during the 48th Annual Sovereign Award ceremony held Thursday, April 13 at Universal Eventspace in Vaughan, Ontario. The finalists in each of the following categories are listed in alphabetical order. Champion Two-Year-Old Female: Cairo Consort (Cairo Prince), Last Call (English Channel), Renegade Rebel (Nyquist). Champion Two-Year-Old Male: Philip My...

The Jockey Club of Canada will host the annual Sovereign Awards, a ceremony to honor Canada's champions of 2022, and outstanding achievement in Thoroughbred racing and breeding. Held in Toronto, the 48th edition will take place April 13, 2023. The celebration includes a full slate of prizes for Thoroughbreds and humans, including, Horse of the Year, Outstanding Breeder, and Outstanding Trainer, just to name a few. Tickets to the Sovereign Awards ceremony are $250 each and can be purchased here. Program advertisement space and sponsorships can also be purchased. For...

The Jockey Club of Canada, which recognizes outstanding achievements in Canadian Thoroughbred racing and breeding with the annual Sovereign Awards, is implementing changes to the guidelines for some of the awards, effective for the current year. Directly from the The Jockey Club's Board of Stewards are the following changes: 1). The trophy recipient for the divisional horse awards shall be the owner of the horse as of its last start in the award year and, if the owner is not also the breeder, the breeder listed on the Jockey Club Certificate...

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...

Eugene Melnyk, the owner of the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League and a prominent horse owner and breeder who was a member of the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame, has passed away at age 62. His death was announced Monday by the Senators, which posted a statement from Melnyk's family on its website, which noted that he died "after an illness he faced with determination and courage." The team did not disclose the exact cause of death. He underwent a liver transplant in 2015. A native of...

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...

The Jockey Club of Canada has announced the finalists for the 2021 Sovereign Awards, which honor Canada's champions and recognizes their outstanding achievements in Canadian Thoroughbred Racing and Breeding. The winner of each category, along with Canada's Horse of the Year for 2021, will be announced during the 47th Annual Sovereign Award Ceremony that will be held on the evening of Thursday, Apr. 14, 2022 at Universal Eventspace in Vaughan, Ontario. Tickets can also be purchased online here. The 2021 Media Awards finalists, the winner of the Award for Outstanding...

Eurico Rosa da Silva, one of Canadian Thoroughbred racing's most accomplished riders and popular personalities, has been named the 2021 recipient of the Avelino Gomez Memorial Award. The Gomez Award is given to the person, Canadian-born, Canadian-raised or regular rider in the country for more than five years, who has made significant contributions to the sport. It is named in memory of one of the sport's most heralded and loved performers. The Cuban-born Gomez died of complications after a three-horse accident in the 1980 Canadian Oaks. "What a nice surprise....

Dual Canadian Classic winner Mighty Heart (Dramedy), a homebred for Lawrence Cordes, was named Canadian Horse of the Year at the 46th Annual Sovereign Awards ceremony held Thursday evening. It marked the second year in a row Canada's championship awards were held virtually due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Trained by Josie Carroll, Mighty Heart began his sophomore campaign in July with a maiden special weight victory at Woodbine, then went on to capture the Sept. 12 Queen's Plate S. and the Sept. 29 Prince of Wales S. The one-eyed...

Sam-Son Farm will be presented with the Special Sovereign Award during the 46th Annual Sovereign Awards Virtual Ceremony, which will be held in April. Selected by the Jockey Club of Canada's Stewards, the Special Sovereign Award honors those who have accomplished outstanding achievements and made a significant contribution to the Thoroughbred Industry in Canada. Over the past five decades, Sam-Son Farm, a Canadian Thoroughbred breeding and racing operation founded in 1972 by Ernie and Liza Samuel, has been the recipient of four Eclipse Awards, 13 Hall of Fame Awards and...

The Jockey Club of Canada has announced the finalists for the 2020 Sovereign Awards, which christens Canada's champions. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the 46th Annual Sovereign Awards Ceremony will be held virtually in April. The winners of 12 horse categories and five human categories will be crowned. Finalists in each category follow. Champion 2-year-old female: 'TDN Rising Star' Alda (Munnings), Dreaming of Drew (Speightster), and 'TDN Rising Star' Lady Speightspeare (Speightstown); champion 2-year-old male: Gretzky the Great (Nyquist), Master Spy (Silent Name {Jpn}), Ready to Repeat (More Than...

Coming off a win in the Breeders' Cup 'Win and You're In' GI Woodbine Mile S. with 2019 Canadian Horse of the Year Starship Jubilee, trainer Kevin Attard joins the TDN Writers' Room to discuss the filly claimed three years ago who is now a multi-millionaire.