Sovereign night in Toronto

The 32nd annual Sovereign Awards dinner and ceremony moved along at a decent clip last night at the Intercontinental Hotel in Toronto and there were many expected winners and a fee surprises as envelopes were opened for 20 trophies.



(Left - My friend Dave Landry is one awesome photographer and I use his pix a lot...this shot is of Emma-Jayne Wilson in the morning. Dave won another Sovereign Award for photo last night)


Highlights of the night had to be Mark Casse's speech, he was very emotional in accepting his Outstanding Trainer Sovereign. Casse was third by wins at Woodbine (67) but led on purse earnings and that seemed to be the trend of the voters who once again selected Sam-Son as owner and Adena Springs as breeder (those two farms have won those awards almost every year in the last decade). Zzzzzzzzzz.


Meanwhile, Todd Kabel won jockey of the year probably because too many people were wondering if Emma-Jayne Wilson (top apprentice) should be eligible for the category. Wilson was an apprentice until September but she led all jockeys in wins (144).


Catch the Thrill, the 2yo filly champ, was a bit surprising but she is owned by Sam-Son and is by A.P. Indy....why not..


Carolyn Costigan, daughter of Bob Costigan who owns Horse of the Year Arravale, was eloquent in her speeches and knowledgable too. She flew in from Australia to accept the 3yo filly's trophies (female turf horse).


David Willmot praised Emma-Jayne Wilson when he went up to present an award, saying the young woman was very important to the sport since she is always seen loving the horses with pats and kisses. Cool.


Western Canada's Paul Wiecek, who wins a Sovereign every year now and his stories are always so long (almost book-length) and detailed I guess he should win, was all over the place in his acceptance speech. He thanked the "Canadian Jockey Club" (Jockey Club of Canada) and the Jockey Club's "Bridget Cox" (Bridget Bimm is actually her name)...


Dave Perkins, who writes for the Toronto Star, won for newspaper story and that helped get some coverage in for the awards in the paper for sure..





Now....on to that winter nap thing I have been looking forward too..(kidding..Thoroughblog will stay in action all winter...feel free to write in..send some picks for races, stories or just say hi!)