Photo: Coglianese Photos

Havre de Grace

For the third straight year, a female was crowned Horse of the year when Fox Hill Farm’s Havre de Grace took home top honors Jan. 16 at the annual Eclipse Awards dinner. Earlier, the daughter of Saint Liam had been a near unanimous selection as champion older mare.

The daughter of 2005 Horse of the Year Saint Liam trained by Larry Jones finished first with 166 votes, followed by Peter and Mary Hilvers and Bud and Judy Johnston’s 5-year-old Acclamation, who finished second with 26 votes. Diamond Pride LLC and the Lanni Family Trust’s 4-year-old Game on Dude finished third with 10 votes, followed by Cape Blanco with 9 votes.

“She is the perfect racehorse,” said Rick Porter, who owns Fox Hill Farm. “She did it her way. She won the big races when it counted.”

Like the last two Horse of the Year champions—Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta—Havre de Grace scored her most important victory against males. Like Rachel Alexandra, she won Saratoga’s Woodward Stakes (gr. I). She then attempted to emulate Zenyatta’s Breeders’ Cup Classic (gr. I) victory in 2009, but she could do no better than fourth.

Havre de Grace had spent most of 2010 embroiled in the heated rivalry with her nemesis Blind Luck, with three of their four meetings resulting in photo finishes.  Porter then decided to take her from Tony Dutrow and send her to trainer Larry Jones. It didn’t take Jones long to become enamored with Havre de

Grace and she showed how much she had improved when she began 2011 by trouncing Blind Luck by 3 1⁄4 lengths in the grade III Azeri Stakes (gr. III) before running down grade I winner Switch to win the Apple Blossom Handicap (gr. I).

She then easily captured Delaware Park’s Obeah Stakes (gr. III) as a prep for another rematch with Blind Luck. It was the most anticipated race of the year and lived up to its billing, as Blind Luck withstood a furious stretch duel with Havre de Grace to win by a nose.

Havre de Grace moved forward, winning the Woodward by 1 1⁄4 lengths before destroying eventual Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic  (gr. I) winner and champion 3-year-old filly Royal Delta in the Beldame Stakes (gr. I).

For the year she won five of seven starts and earned $1,623,000. Out of the Carson City mare Easter Bunnette, Havre de Grace was bred in Kentucky by Nancy Dillman

Read more: http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/67010/havre-de-grace-crowned-horse-of-the-year#ixzz1jgXpzgOU

Photo: Coglianese Photos

Ramon Dominguez

For Ramon Dominguez, improving upon his stellar 2010 campaign was a tall task, since he topped the jockey standings with more than $16.9 million in earnings and won 19 graded races including five in grade I events en route to his first Eclipse Award.

But the Venezuelan-born rider picked up right where he left off at the start of the new season and somehow even bettered his performance. The end results were 2011 numbers that dwarfed those from the previous year and a second consecutive Eclipse Award as the nation’s top rider.

He received 197 first-place votes. John Velazquez, the runner-up, had 30 votes with Javier Castellano receiving 14 first-place votes.

For the year Dominguez accumulated more than $20.5 million in earnings, which was more than $2 million more than Velazquez. He also notched 27 graded stakes victories, including 10 in grade I company—both well exceeding his output from 2010. One of those grade I tallies came in the Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (gr. I) when he guided Hansen to an upset victory over favored Union Rags.

Dominguez’ super season included 348 wins from 1,426 mounts, which was second behind DeShawn Parker’s win total of 400.

Dominguez, 35, captured his third consecutive New York Racing Association title. He set a NYRA record for consecutive winners when he won seven straight races Dec. 14-15 at Aqueduct. On June 5 at Belmont Park, he became the first jockey in more than 13 years to win six races on a single NYRA card.

Other than Hansen, one of Dominguez’ biggest victories came in the Woodward Stakes (gr. I) at Saratoga, where he guided Havre de Grace to a win over males.

Read more: http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/66998/dominguez-repeats-as-top-jock#ixzz1jgXU6410

Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt

Royal Delta in the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic.
Royal Delta had a huge year in 2011, both on the racetrack and in the auction ring, and the filly will kick off 2012 with an Eclipse Award as new owner Ben Leon Jr. points her toward greater accomplishments.

On Jan. 16, Royal Delta was honored as champion 3-year-old filly, garnering 243 of the total 248 first-place votes cast. Awesome Feather received two votes, as did Plum Pretty. Zazu received one vote.

An impressive winner of her only start at 2, Royal Delta toward the top of racing’s 3-year-old division by winning or placing in six of her seven starts in 2011, including  victories in the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (gr. II) in May and in August’s TVG Alabama Stakes (gr. I). In the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic (gr. I) posted her fifth career win in eight starts under jockey Jose Lezcano and extended her earnings to $1,694,600.

Fresh off her scintillating victory in the Nov. 4 Ladies’ Classic, went through the sales ring at the Keenelenad November breeding stock sale, commanding a winning bid of $8.5 million from Ben Leon Jr.’s Besilu Stables. Consigned to the Keeneland sale as part of the dispersal of her breeder and former owner, the late Saud bin Khaled’s Palides Investments, Royal Delta sold for the third-highest price in the history of the November sale.

Following a brief freshening, Royal Delta is now working toward an even bigger goal: running in the $10 million Dubai World Cup (UAE-I) March 31 at Meydan Racecourse. The 4-year-old filly will remain under the care of trainer Bill Mott, who has conditioned her since the beginning of her career.

“The people that were able to work around her before are excited to have her back; it’s just good for the morale of the stable,” Mott said. “It gives us all something to look forward to. It’s a new challenge for us this year to keep things going.”

Read more: http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/67004/royal-delta-winner-on-and-off-the-track#ixzz1jgWpIKcP

Photo: Rick Samuels

Animal Kingdom at the Kentucky Derby.
Never before had the top two Eclipse Award vote getters in the 3-year-old male division been so much like the proverbial apples and oranges comparison, which made voting in 2011 so unique and difficult.

That is how different the two protagonists, Animal Kingdom and Caleb’s Posse, were from each other. Voters had  to decide between a Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) winner and Preakness (gr. I) runner-up who didn’t race after June 11 and a one-turn specialist who was just another of the nondescript 3-year-olds on the Derby trail until he had a big breakthrough after being shortened up to one turn.

In the end the voters went classic as Animal Kingdom was honored Jan. 16 with an Eclipse Award as champion 3-year-old male. He edged Caleb’s Posse by a first-place vote tally of 114 to 111. Shackleford, the Preakness Stakes (gr. I) winner, received 12 first-place votes, followed by Ruler On Ice (5), Stay Thirsty (4), and Uncle Mo (1). There was one abstention in this category.

Owned and bred by Team Valor and trained by Graham Motion, Animal Kingdom was not even considered his owner’s main Derby hopeful in late March when he was entered in the non-graded Rushaway Stakes at Turfway, while Crimson China went in the rich Vinery Racing Spiral Stakes (gr. III) on the same card. But when Crimson China failed to make the starting field due to lack of earnings, their roles were reversed, with Animal Kingdom having earned slightly more money.

When Animal Kingdom won the Spiral on Polytrack, he thrust himself into the Derby picture and on the first Saturday in May he defated 18 of the best 3-year-olds in training at the time. Animal Kingdom won the classic by an impressive win by 2 3/4 lengths in his first start ever on dirt, something that had never been achieved before.

A fast-closing second in the Preakness, Animal Kingdom was sent off as the 5-2 favorite for the Belmont Stakes (gr. I). But a disastrous start, in which he stumbled badly, nearly falling and unseating jockey John Velazquez, cost him all chance. After making a spectacular run on the far turn, he faded to sixth in what was to be his final start of the year, due to a hind leg fracture.

Read more: http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/67003/animal-kingdom-awarded-for-classic-success#ixzz1jgWZaXLB

Photo: Courtesy of Adena Springs

Adena Springs

Frank Stronach’s Adena Springs continues to crank out top-level stakes winners and knocked down its seventh Eclipse Award for breeder in the last eight years. In all, it’s the eighth Eclipse for Stronach as he earned his first statue in 2000 under his name. As an owner, Stronach has earned four Eclipse Awards.

As far as money earned as a breeder, Adena Springs led the North American list for the ninth year in a row in 2011. As an individual concern, Adena Springs bred 493 starters who won 455 races from 3,348 starts with earnings of more than $14.6 million. That total more than doubles the earnings from the second-placed breeder, Ken and Sarah Ramsey, who were also Eclipse Award finalists in the breeder category.

Adena Springs received 151 first-place votes, with the Ramsey getting 62 votes.

The list of Adena Springs stakes winners in 2011 was impressive and included nine graded stakes winners headed by two-time grade I winner Game On Dude. Game On Dude, who also finished a gritty second in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (gr. I), won the Santa Anita Handicap and Goodwood Stakes. A top runner on turf on the West Coast in 2011, Bourbon Bay won Santa Anita’s San Marcos Stakes (gr. IIT) and Del Mar’s Cougar II Handicap (gr. IIIT). Adena’s other graded winners were Bay to Bay, Celtic New Year, City Wolf, Don Cavallo, Matthewsburg, Smart Sting, and Stunning Stag.

Stronach, who built Magna International into one of the world’s leading auto parts manufacturers, has been involved in breeding and racing Thoroughbreds for more than 40 years and is perhaps best known in the industry as the owner of a strong portfolio of racetracks including Santa Anita Park, Gulfstream Park, and both Pimlico and Laurel Park of the Maryland Jockey Club.

As an owner and breeder, Stronach has also won 18 Sovereign Awards, nine each as outstanding breeder and outstanding owner.

Read more: http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/67000/adena-wins-7th-eclipse-as-top-breeder#ixzz1jgWGHD00

Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt

Ken Ramsey with Stephanie’s Kitten.

Most of the stakes winners campaigned in 2011 by Ken and Sarah Ramsey delivered a double reward. The Central Kentucky farm owners had the thrill of winning 16 stakes, seven of them graded, in their white and red silks emblazoned with the a block capital R. Adding to the thrill of those victories was the bonus of having bred nine of their 12 stakes winners, all by their homegrown stallion Kitten’s Joy  .

The Ramseys won 116 races last year out of 495 starts, a win percentage of 23.4%. Their horses were in the money 263 times and in total the Ramseys’ runners collected $4,954,201 in earnings. Using North American earnings only, they were the second-leading owners behind Richard and Karen Papiese’s Midwest Thoroughbreds.

This year’s Eclipse trophy is the second the Ramseys have won as leading owner, having picked up their first in 2004 when they campaigned top older horses Kitten’s Joy and Roses in May.

In a tight race, the Ramseys received 66 first-place votes with Midwest Thoroughbreds getting 60. Team Valor was tabbed first on 25 ballots.

The Ramseys’ top runners in 2011 included Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (gr. IIT) winner Stephanie’s Kitten. Out of the unraced Catienus   mare Unfold the Rose, Stephanie’s Kitten won three of five starts and earned more than $817,000. Besides the Breeders’ Cup, she also won the grade I Darley Alcibiades Stakes at Keeneland.

The other graded stakes winners throughout the year were Holiday for Kitten, winner of the grade II Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes; Big Blue Kitten, who won the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame Stakes (gr. IIT); and Derby Kitten, winner of the Coolmore Lexington Stakes (gr. III).

One top Ramsey horse that wasn’t a homebred was Headache, a 6-year-old gelding by Tapit   who won the Hawthorne Gold Cup Handicap (gr. II) and the Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap (gr. III).

Read more: http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/66999/ramseys-scratch-out-eclipse-as-top-owner#ixzz1jgW1uao0

Photo: Coglianese Photos

Havre de Grace in the Woodward Stakes.
There was little drama in the announcement of Fox Hill Farms’ Havre de Grace being named top older female. The 4-year-old daughter of 2005 Horse of the Year Saint Liam garnered 245 of the 248 first-place votes cast.

Like the last two older female champions—Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta—Havre de Grace scored her most important victory against males. Like Rachel Alexandra, she won Saratoga’s Woodward Stakes (gr. I). She then attempted to emulate Zenyatta’s Breeders’ Cup Classic (gr. I) victory in 2009, but she could do no better than fourth.

Havre de Grace had spent most of 2010 embroiled in the heated rivalry with her nemesis Blind Luck, with three of their four meetings resulting in photo finishes.  Owner Rick Porter then decided to take her from Tony Dutrow and send her to trainer Larry Jones. It didn’t take Jones long to become enamored with Havre de Grace and she showed how much she had improved when she began 2011 by trouncing Blind Luck by 3 1⁄4 lengths in the grade III Azeri Stakes (gr. III) before running down grade I winner Switch to win the Apple Blossom Handicap (gr. I).

She then easily captured Delaware Park’s Obeah Stakes (gr. III) as a prep for another rematch with Blind Luck. It was the most anticipated race of the year and lived up to its billing, as Blind Luck withstood a furious stretch duel with Havre de Grace to win by a nose.

Havre de Grace moved forward, winning the Woodward by 1 1⁄4 lengths before destroying eventual Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic  (gr. I) winner and Eclipse finalist Royal Delta in the Beldame Stakes (gr. I).

For the year she won five of seven starts and earned $1,623,000. Out of the Carson City mare Easter Bunnette, Havre de Grace was bred in Kentucky by Nancy Dillman.

 “She is the perfect racehorse in my opinion,” he said. “She has a perfect demeanor, a drop-dead gorgeous body, a heart as big as America, and the ability to win beyond belief. Watching her win the Woodward was the greatest thrill I have had in horse racing, and experiencing the rivalry with Blind Luck was something I will never forget. She gives her all every race.”

Havre de Grace is also a strong contender for the Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year and if she succeeds, it’ll mark back-to-back-to-back titles for females (with Rachel Alexandra in 2009 and Zenyatta last year), a feat never before accomplished.

Read more: http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/67007/older-female-grace-in-a-landslide#ixzz1jgVmve6x

Photo: Benoit Photography

Acclamation in the Clement L. Hirsch Stakes.

In a split decision worthy of a season in which very little was settled definitively on the racetrack, the California-bred Acclamation notched the Eclipse Award for 2011’s top older male. Acclamation’s three grade I triumphs on the season were the most of any older male runner except male turf champion Cape Blanco, who matched Acclamation with his own trio of grade I wins.

Acclamation excelled as a homebred for the Johnston family’s Old English Rancho, an operation located near Sanger, Calif., and one rich in history over its 70 years in the Thoroughbred business.

The 5-year-old of 2011 is a son of perennial leading California sire Unusual Heat. After a pair of disappointing starts to begin the season, Acclamation came to hand winning both the 12-furlong Jim Murray Handicap (gr. IIT) and the 10-furlong Charles Whittingham Memorial Handicap (gr. IT) for the second season in a row.

Shortening up to a mile and an eighth, Acclamation defeated top runners Jeranimo and Caracortado easily in the Eddie Read Stakes (gr. IT) at Del Mar, then came back on that track’s Polytrack surface to take the $1 million Pacific Classic Stakes (gr. I). Acclamation made it five stakes victories in a row with his triumph in the Clement L. Hirsch Turf Championship Stakes (gr. IIT) at Santa Anita. For the year he won five of seven starts and $1,126,000. Acclamation remains in training for a 2012 campaign.

Ellwood Johnston, the founder of Old English Rancho, claimed Acclamation’s third dam, Solidity, for $1,250 at Caliente racetrack, and Old English has made the family ever since.

Acclamation outpolled Eclipse runner-up Game On Dude, winner of the Big ‘Cap and runner-up in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (both gr. I) 95-70. The other finalist was Whitney Invitational Handicap and Metropolitan Handicap (both gr.  I) victor Tizway, who notched 52 votes.

Read more: http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/67008/acclamation-claims-older-male-championship#ixzz1jgVT85dK

Photo: Mathea Kelley

Amazombie in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.
Winning the Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Sprint (gr. I) Nov. 5 had been the flourishing finish to a splendid nine-race championship season for Amazombie that ran from late January to Nov. 5. Now the Cal-bred son of Northern Afleet   has wrapped up his 2011 season with a champion sprint male championship title.

It was a strong finish for Amazombie, out of the In Excess mare Willshe Amaze, who got 201 first-place votes out of 248 votes cast. The other contenders were Caleb’s Posse (42 votes), Regally Ready (2), The Factor (2), and Jackson Bend (1).

Racing for owners Thomas Sanford and owner/trainer Bill Spawr, Amazombie made all of his starts, excluding the Breeders’ Cup, in speed-happy Southern California where he faced state-breds in three of his first four starts of the year, landing the rich Sunshine Millions Sprint Stakes at Santa Anita and the Tiznow Stakes at Hollywood Park during its Gold Rush Days program in late April. In between, Amazombie took down the Portero Grande Stakes (gr. II) going 6 1⁄2 furlongs at Santa Anita.

“This horse is the real deal,” said Spawr after the Portero Grande, the gelding’s first graded win. “If you don’t understand ‘perfect,’ just look at his body.”

 While Amazombie wasn’t perfect from there on out, he was pretty close. On Memorial Day he finished first in the Los Angeles Handicap (gr. III) but was disqualified and placed third, then ran third behind sharpies Smiling Tiger and Euroears in the Triple Bend Handicap (gr. I) and Bing Crosby Stakes (gr. I), respectively. Given more than two months off, he returned with a strong score in Santa Anita’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint prep, the Ancient Title Stakes (gr. I), getting six furlongs in 1:08.24 before turning the tables on Euroears and the nation’s best in the Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Sprint.

For the year Amazombie recorded a 5-1-3 slate and earned $1,327,00. He raced on dirt, turf, and synthetic surfaces and was a perfect four-for-four on dirt.

Read more: http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/66992/amazing-amazombie-is-sprint-champ#ixzz1jgV2OKuB

Photo: Dave Harmon

Musical Romance in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.
Musical Romance completed her rags-to-riches story when she was named champion female sprinter for 2011. As bigger names such as Turbulent Descent, Hilda’s Passion, Switch, and Sassy Image garnered the publicity through the early and middle stages of the season, the daughter of Concorde’s Tune was improving steadily under the radar.

The final balloting showed Musical Romance with 131 votes, Hilda’s Passion with 53, and Sassy Image getting 46.

A $22,000 purchase out of a 2-year-old sale, Musical Romance blossomed under the tutelage of veteran Florida trainer Bill Kaplan, who purchased her out of the consignment of her breeder, Ocala Stud. Kaplan, who co-owns the filly with Adam Lazarus’ Pinnacle Racing Stables, had an iron horse on his hands. Musical Romance made 13 starts as a 3-year-old in 2010, and came back in 2011 to race 14 times.

After scoring a pair of minor 2011 stakes victories at Calder in South Florida, Musical Romance tipped her hand in the July 9 Princess Rooney Handicap (gr. I), where she ran second a neck to the highly regarded Sassy Image. After another Calder stakes win, Kaplan and Lazarus took their filly on the road, where she won the Sept. 10 Presque Isle Downs Masters Stakes (gr. II) and ran a solid second in the Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes (gr. II) at Keeneland.

There was no stopping her in the Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (gr. I), where she held off Switch by 1 1/4 lengths, becoming a millionaire for the season.

Lazarus furthers the rags-to-riches theme. The New Jersey native moved to Florida hoping to become a sportscaster, and wound up a successful copy machines salesman whose father is a golfing buddy of Kaplan’s. When Lazarus decided to put together racing partnerships on a small scale, his father introduced him to Kaplan, and now the connections have an Eclipse Award for their trophy case.

“To go where we have with this filly is beyond our imagination,” noted Lazarus. “This (Eclipse) means so much to us.”

Read more: http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/67002/musical-romance-hits-highest-note#ixzz1jgUlMscD