Monthly Award Winners for Apr’10
Apr 2010 Award Winners
| Apr'10 Award | Winner | Honorable Mention |
|---|---|---|
| Horse of the Month | Blind Luck | Evening Jewel |
| Jockey of the Month | Julien Leparoux | Kent Desormeaux |
| Trainer of the Month | Todd Pletcher | John Sadler |
Horse of the Month
This was a close one, but we’ll mirror the results of the Kentucky Oaks and give the Horse of the Month award to Blind Luck by a short nose over Evening Jewel. Blind Luck also won the Grade 2 Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn Park this month, while Honorable Mention winner Evening Jewel won the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes at Keeneland.
Jockey of the Month
Julien Leparoux had a big month, picking up six wins, three seconds and five thirds in graded stakes races in April. In addition to Grade 1 wins aboard Warrior’s Reward and Karelian, Leparoux guided Nordic Truce, Check the Label, and Silver Timber (twice) to Grade 3 wins.
Honorable Mention goes to Kent Desormeaux for his four graded stakes wins, and five runner-up finishes, in April. Desormeaux’s highlights were a Grade 1 victory, and a second by a nose, on Evening Jewel and a Grade 1 win on Dr. Zic.
Trainer of the Month
Todd Pletcher made it three Trainer of the Month awards in a row by collecting four wins, five seconds and three thirds in graded stakes races during April. Pletcher’s sole Grade 1 win was by Eskendereya in the Wood Memorial. Unfortunately, the likely Kentucky Derby favorite would develop an injury in late April and be forced to miss the Derby. <foreshadowing> Another Pletcher runner, Super Saver, finished second in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby. </foreshadowing>
John Sadler picks up the Honorable Mention for saddling four graded stakes winners, along with a place and a show finisher, in graded stakes this month. Two of Sadler’s wins were Grade 1 Kentucky Derby preps, the Santa Anita Derby with Sidney’s Candy and the Arkansas Derby with Line of David.
Graded Stakes Points
| Grade | W | P | S |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | 10 | 8 | 6 |
| II | 7 | 5 | 3 |
| III | 4 | 2 | 1 |
April 2010 Graded Stakes Results
Monthly Award Winners for Feb’10
Feb 2010 Award Winners
| Feb'10 Award | Winner | Honorable Mention |
|---|---|---|
| Horse of the Month | Quality Road | Blind Luck |
| Jockey of the Month | Rafael Bejarano | Victor Espinoza |
| Trainer of the Month | Todd Pletcher | Bob Baffert |
Horse of the Month
Quality Road declared himself the leader of the (male) handicap division, pending the return of Summer Bird from a leg injury, with a record-setting romp in the Donn Handicap (G1) at Gulfstream. The 12 3/4 length victory in 1:47.49 broke his own track record for a mile and an eighth, set in last year’s Florida Derby. There’s a good chance this won’t be his only Horse of the Month award this year.
Blind Luck also nominated herself as a division leader with her win in the Las Virgenes (G1) at Santa Anita, but, unlike Quality Road, she needed every inch of the racetrack to get it done. (video, photo) For that, she gets Honorable Mention.
Jockey of the Month
Rafael Bejarano won three graded stakes races in February, and finished third three times as well, to earn the Jockey of the Month award. In addition to just getting Blind Luck up in time in the Las Virgenes (G1), Bejarano won the Buena Vista (G2) with Tuscan Evening and the San Luis Obispo (G2) with Bourbon Bay.
I don’t know if it merits an Honorable Mention, but Victor Espinoza’s five runner-up finishes in February (four in Grade 2′s), without a victory, merits a mention of some sort. And, of course, it was Espinoza aboard Evening Jewel that got nosed on the wire by Blind Luck in the Las Virgenes.
Trainer of the Month
Four wins and two thirds in graded stakes action would be a pretty good month for any trainer. For Todd Pletcher, it was just a very good day. On Saturday February 20th, Pletcher won four of the day’s eleven graded stakes, including three Kentucky Derby preps. If Pletcher had done nothing else all month, he would still have won Trainer of the Month. In addition to the win with Quality Road, Pletcher dominated the Kentucky Derby Trail with wins by Rule, Discreetly Mine, Connemara, and Eskendereya.
Last month’s Trainer of the Month winner is this month’s Honorable Mention. Bob Baffert won twice, with Richard’s Kid and Conveyance, and finished second three times in graded stakes this month.
Graded Stakes Points
| Grade | W | P | S |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | 10 | 8 | 6 |
| II | 7 | 5 | 3 |
| III | 4 | 2 | 1 |
February 2010 Graded Stakes Results
2009 ThoroughbredReport.com Annual Awards
Welcome to the 2009 ThoroughbredReport.com Annual Awards where we’ll recognize those who excelled in graded stakes races during the year. These awards are based primarily on points earned for finishing in the money in graded stakes races. As always, I reserve the right to arbitrarily pick a different winner if the points don’t suit my needs.
Graded Stakes Points
| Grade | W | P | S |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | 10 | 8 | 6 |
| II | 7 | 5 | 3 |
| III | 4 | 2 | 1 |
Resources: 2009 Graded Stakes Database 2009 Graded Stakes Leaderboards
Jockey of the Year – Garrett Gomez
Julien Leparoux actually won more graded stakes races than Garrett Gomez in 2009 (34-32), but Gomez excelled when it counted most, finishing with 11 wins, 14 places and 7 shows in Grade 1 races.
Trainer of the Year – Todd Pletcher
While it would be unfair to say Todd Pletcher winning this award represents a victory of quantity over quality, his win is courtesy of a remarkable 80 in-the-money finishes in graded stakes races rather than overwelming success at the Grade 1 level. In fact, five trainers won more Grade 1 races in 2009 than Todd Pletcher (4) - Bob Baffert (10), Saeed bin Suroor (9), Steve Asmussen (7), Christophe Clement (6) and John Shirreffs (6). (The late Bobby Frankel (4) and his assistant Humberto Ascanio (2) combined for 6, as well). In addition to Pletcher’s four victories, his runners did pick up 10 seconds and 9 thirds in Grade 1 races, so it’s not like he wasn’t competitive at the highest level.
Two-Year-Old Male – Lookin at Lucky
The only blemish on his record is a head loss to Vale of York in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, however, he did return to the Winner’s Circle in the Grade 1 CashCall Futurity for his 4th graded stakes win of the year. (Does it count as a blemish that he’s yet to race on dirt?)
Two-Year-Old Female – Blind Luck
Debuting in a maiden claimer (which she won by over 13 lengths), Blind Luck has since picked up two wins, a second and a third (in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies) in Grade 1 races.
Three-Year-Old Male – Summer Bird
Summer Bird didn’t make his career debut until March 1st, but by the time he wrapped up his season with a fourth place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (by far the best performance by a dirt runner in the race), he had shown himself to be the best (male) three-year-old in the country with victories in the Belmont Stakes, Travers Stakes and Jockey Club Gold Cup.
Three-Year-Old Female – Rachel Alexandra
Her four graded stakes victories against other three-year-old fillies were probably enough to win this award.
Older Male – Gio Ponti
He did most of his running on turf this year, but unlike other runners who were content to dominate their home courses, he did win Grade 1 races from coast to coast (SA, BEL, BEL, AP) and for a moment in midstretch it looked like he had won the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Older Female – Zenyatta
Five starts, four in Grade 1′s. Five victories, the last being an amazing performance in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. She doesn’t win by football fields, she just wins.
Male Sprinter – Fabulous Strike
This division is wide open. Zensational had three Grade 1 wins in California, and nothing else. Fabulous Strike had two wins and three seconds in graded stakes races, but no Grade 1 wins. Kodiak Kowboy had two Grade 1 wins over Fabulous Strike, but lost to that one in a Grade 2. Capt. Candyman Can had three wins and two seconds in graded stakes, but all of his wins were against three-year-olds.
Not much chance this pick is flattered by an Eclipse Award, Zensational or Kodiak Kowboy are the likely winners, but we’ll go with Fabulous Strike anyway for the five exacta finishes.
Female Sprinter – Informed Decision
Six graded stakes victories (five, if you subscribe to the action taken by the American Graded Stakes Committee) culminating with a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint over defending champion Ventura.
Male Turf – Gio Ponti
Four Grade 1 wins, over three tracks, at distances from a mile to a mile and three-eighths, over everything from firm to yielding conditions.
Female Turf – Magical Fantasy
Four graded stakes wins, three of them Grade 1′s, over three different SoCal turf courses. I’m not crazy about this pick, but even though Forever Together accumulated the same number of points, she only won twice.
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