Prominent owner/breeder Eugene Melnyk is among the five inductees representing Thoroughbreds among the 2017 Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame class. The Toronto-born businessman, philanthropist and owner of the Ottawa Senators NHL franchise boasts 12 Sovereign Awards, including Outstanding Owner in 2007 and 2009 and Outstanding Breeder in 2009. Among the Barbados resident's many standouts on the track were homebred Sealy Hill (Point Given), the first-ever winner of the Canadian Triple Tiara, Canada's 2008 Horse of the Year and a 2013 Hall of Fame inductee; 1998 Queen's Plate and Prince of Wales S. winner Archer's Bay (Silver Deputy); Eclipse Award winner, 2004 GI Breeders' Cup sprint hero and top sire Speightstown (Gone West); GI Travers S. winner and GI Kentucky Derby and GI Preakness S.-winning sire Flower Alley (Distorted Humor); Sovereign Award winners Roxy Gap (Indian Charlie) and Leigh Court (Grand Slam); Breeders' S. winner Marchfield (A. P. Indy); and 2016 GI Gulfstream Park Turf H. winner Lukes Alley (Flower Alley), who annexed an optional claimer in Hallandale on Saturday. Melnyk, the founder and former chairman/CEO of pharmaceutical company Biovail Corporation, was the founding donor of Anna House at Belmont Park. He drastically reduced his stock at the 2014 Fasig-Tipton July Sale, and offerings from the Melnyk dispersal brought a combined $5.226 million.
Other Thoroughbred racing stalwarts to be inducted into the Canadian Hall of Fame are Harold Barroby, leading trainer in British Columbia a record 10 times; journalist Curtis Stock, winner of 11 Sovereign Awards for his work in the Edmonton Journal and Daily Racing Form; Sam-Son Farm homebred Quiet Resolve (Affirmed), 2000's Canadian Horse of the Year who annexed the 1999 GI Atto Mile S. and finished second in the 2000 GI Breeders' Cup Turf en route to earnings in excess of $2.3 million; and South Ocean (New Providence), who annexed the 1970 Canadian Oaks before producing G1SW and important sire Storm Bird (Northern Dancer).
The Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will take place at the Mississauga Convention Centre Wednesday, Aug. 9.
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