Sovereign Awards

The champion of his generation in Canada in 2024 and the reigning Sovereign Award-winning older dirt male, Dresden Row (Lord Nelson) was entered for, but scratched from last Saturday's GIII Dinner Party Stakes at Laurel, for which he was the 7-5 morning-line favorite, opting instead for this high-level allowance Thursday evening at Churchill Downs. A two-time graded winner at three and victorious in the GII Autumn Stakes last November for True North Stable and Jeff Bloom's Bloom Racing Stable and trainer Lorne Richards, Dresden Row topped this year's Fasig-Tipton Digital...

Hall of Famer Patrick Husbands, one of Canada's most decorated jockeys, will retire from race riding but will continue getting on horses in the mornings, according to a release from Woodbine. Husbands joined the ranks in Canada in 1994, and over the course of his career, amassed more than 3,700 victories, captured several Woodbine riding titles and Sovereign Awards as Canada's Outstanding Jockey. In 2025, he won 30 races, including five stakes events, and rode the winners of nearly $2-million. "I have been riding since 1988, so that is 37...

The 51st Sovereign Awards were held by the Jockey Club of Canada Thursday, and among a list of venerable champions to be crowned, 2025 King's Plate hero Mansetti (Collected) topped the lot as Canada's Horse of the Year. Owned by Al & Bill Ulwelling, the son of Collected also claimed the GIII HPIBet Marine Stakes and the Woodstock Stakes as well as placing second in the GIII Ontario Derby and Prince of Wales Stakes. Mansetti garnered 81 votes while champion Caitlinhergrtness (Omaha Beach) came in a close second with 74....

The Jockey Club of Canada will present Rose Day with the 2025 Outstanding Groom Award, Tove Morgan with the Outstanding Off-track Worker Award, and Jodie Hiesinger with the inaugural Outstanding Western Canadian Backstretch Worker Award, the group announced via a press release that also included the media finalists for the 2025 Sovereign Awards. Part of the Woodbine Racetrack community for nearly three decades, Day has been a groom for 22 years--13 of them with Sid and Larry Attard. Recognized for her consistently positive attitude and ability to motivate those around...

The Jockey Club of Canada named the finalists for the 2025 Sovereign Awards and the winners, along with Canada's Horse of the Year, will be revealed during the 51st annual ceremony to be held on Thursday, Apr. 23 at Paramount Eventspace in Woodbridge, Ontario, the club said via a press release on Friday. The nominees for this year's Sovereign Awards include a pair of past King's Plate winners in Canadian MGSW Caitlinhergrtness (Omaha Beach)--a finalist for Older Main Track Female--and last year's hero Mansetti (Collected), who was named in the...

The Jockey Club of Canada plans to offer a new Outstanding Western Canadian Backstretch Worker Award which will be presented for the first time at the upcoming 51st annual Sovereign Awards ceremony, the organization said in a release on Friday. The new award will go along with the Outstanding Groom Award, which has been given in the past to a stablehand working in Ontario. The Backstretch Worker Award is open to those who hold a valid Thoroughbred license in the provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, and/or Manitoba. Click here to...

1st-Niigata, ¥10,600,000 ($71,603), Maiden, 2yo, 1200m, 1:10.8, ft. SATONO VOYAGE (JPN) (c, 2, Into Mischief--Jolie Olimpica {Brz} {Horse of the Year, Ch. 2yo Filly & G1SW-Brz, Ch. Turf Female-Can, MGSW & GISP-US, GSW-Can, $460,507}, by Drosselmeyer) was beaten 1 1/2 lengths into second when trying 1200 meters on the turf at Hanshin June 14 and was the 9-10 chalk to go one better with a move to the dirt track at Niigata. Drawn gate one, Satono Voyage was driven along by Keita Tosaki and made the lead before the end...

On a night that saw Patches O'Houlihan (Reload) take home both Canadian Horse of the Year and Male Sprinter honors, Kevin Attard finally ended the 13-year consecutive streak of dual Hall of Famer Mark Casse when he won Outstanding Trainer by a single vote at the 50th Sovereign Awards presented by The Jockey Club of Canada which was held outside the city of Toronto, the organization said in a press release late Thursday. Besting Casse 135 to 134 in the tally, Attard pushed the outside of the envelope in what...

Canada's Sovereign Award finalists were announced by The Jockey Club of Canada Wednesday, in addition to dual Hall of Fame trainer Roger Attfield who will receive the E.P. Taylor Award of Merit at the 50th Annual Sovereign Awards ceremony which will be held Apr. 24 at the Paramount Eventspace in Woodbridge, Ontario. Additionally, Emma-Jayne Wilson and Moira (Ghostzapper), winner of the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf before selling for $4.3 million at Fasig-Tipton in November, will both receive Special Sovereign Awards. Wilson surpassed Julie Krone's purse earnings record...

At a recent board meeting of the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame (CHRHF), the Thoroughbred committees received several updates which were approved in advance of the CHRHF nominations and elections for 2025, the organization said in a press release Wednesday. Glenn Sikura, CHRHF 2023 Thoroughbred Builder Inductee, was appointed as the Thoroughbred Nomination Committee Chair. Robert Landry, CHRHF 2014 Jockey Inductee becomes a member of the Thoroughbred Nomination Committee to fill the position previously held by Tom Cosgrove. A member of the CHRHF Thoroughbred Election Committee since 2019, Ontario-based...

Mark Casse has had plenty of good horses in his career. His favorite is not all that surprising. He has had an audience with one of the most iconic people the world has ever seen. He is one of a select few to have been elected into Racing Hall of Fames in the U.S. and Canada. What does he do when he has a little down time? What's the deal with Tom Cruise? Read more in this week's Saratoga Conversation to find out. TDN: Correct me if I am wrong,...

Last year, My Boy Prince (Cairo Prince) secured top honors as the Sovereign Award winner for the best 2-year-old colt north of the border after he was the runner-up in the GI bet365 Summer S.  in Toronto and third in the GI Prevagen Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Santa Anita. The 3-year-old had a tough start to this year's campaign as he finished eighth in the Palisades S. at Keeneland Apr. 7, but he returned home to rebound with a 6 3/4-length win May 19. Backed to the hilt at...