Thank you to the men and women of the New York Thoroughbred industry, who have pulled together to help our horses, our backstretch community and each other in trying times. We are proud to represent you. Together, we will weather the storm. 2 A HEARTFELT THANK YOU TO OUR PARTNERS Awards Dinner Sponsored By Platinum Partners Gold Partners Chester & Mary Broman Silver Partners Bronze Partner Greenberg Traurig, LLP Industry Partners Adirondack Trust Company • Capital OTB 3 A MESSAGE FROM THE NYTB EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Historically, the New York breeding and racing communities gather every April for NYTB’s New York-Bred Divisional Champions Awards Banquet to celebrate the previous year’s racetrack achievements of the New York Thoroughbred Breeding and Racing Program. We present a video program showcasing all the equine nominees, and crown the New York-bred divisional champions one-by-one before announcing the New York-bred Horse of the Year and Broodmare of the Year. We also honor the most successful human program participants of the year. It is always a wonderful celebration. In April 2020, we are all navigating the uncharted waters of the COVID-19 pan- demic. In a situation unlike any other in our collective experience, individuals, busi- nesses, organizations and institutions are striving to keep our horses, employees, families and selves safe and well. Accordingly, in March we decided to cancel our Awards Banquet. We realized this would be a disappointment for the connections of our divisional championship nominees, but it was the right choice. Then, we forged ahead to try to make the best of a difficult situation. NYTB announced the 2019 Horse of the Year, divisional champions and human honorees on the planned event date, April 6, via our website and social media channels. This commemorative program is being mailed to all our members. A brand new microsite is hosting our video presentation, which features the top performances of all nominees and showcases our winners. I think you will enjoy it. I will leave you with some upbeat food for thought – some key statistics from 2019 that illustrate the breadth and depth of the achievements of the New York-bred breeding and racing program. Worldwide New York-breds made 21,799 starts and earned $93,097,565 in purses. They won 86 stakes races at six racetracks, 16 in open company. Our four 2019 graded stakes winners were led by Tiz the Law, who won the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park in the fall and now ranks among the nation’s best 3-year-olds. Racing in-state, New York-breds competed for $44 million in purse money in nearly 800 restricted races. In 2019, the purse value of the 10 New York Stallion Stakes Series restricted to the progeny of nominated New York stallions doubled from $1,150,000 to $2,300,000. The crown jewels of the series are the Great White Way for juve- nile males and the Fifth Avenue for juvenile fillies run at Aqueduct in December for purses of $500,000 each. In all the Fund distributed $1,789,669 in purse enrichment to NYRA and Finger Lakes Gaming and Racetrack in 2019. Statistics continue to demonstrate that New York-breds are the backbone of the NYRA racing circuit. The horses you breed accounted for 38 percent of total NYRA starters and 49 percent of total NYRA starts in 2019. Of the total winners on the NYRA circuit, 44 percent were New York-breds, and they earned 35 percent of total NYRA purses. An impressive $15,468,436 in program awards were disbursed by the Fund in 2019. Breeders earned $10,597,867 in awards, with the average breeder’s award coming in at $17,901. Open Company Owners’ Awards totaled $2,224,002 (average award, $6,177) and Stallion Owners’ Awards totaled $2,646,566 (average award, $49,935). According to the Fund’s 2019 Annual Report, there were 269 active Thoroughbred farms in New York, up 26 from 2018 and a crop of 1,606 foals, down just slightly from last year. I wish all of you the best as you pursue the hard work of breeding, foaling, breaking, training and racing in uniquely challenging circumstances. I hope these awards will be an inspiration for the great achievements that lie in your future. Sincerely yours, Jeffrey A. Cannizzo, Executive Director, New York Thoroughbred Breeders, Inc. 4 NY THOROUGHBRED BREEDERS BOARD OF DIRECTORS Thomas J. Gallo III – President Mallory Mort – Vice President Vivien Malloy – Secretary/Treasurer Scott Ahlschwede, D.V.M. Daniel P. Hayden H. James Bond Michael Lischin Lois Engel Joan M. Taylor, D.V.M. Seth Gregory Lere Visagie Directors Emeriti Chester Broman, Joanne Nielsen, Suzie O’Cain Jeffrey Cannizzo, Executive Director New York Thoroughbred Breeders 57 Phila Street, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866. (518) 587-0777. www.nytbreeders.org NY THOROUGHBRED BREEDING & DEVELOPMENT FUND BOARD OF DIRECTORS John J. Poklemba, NY Thoroughbred Breeding & Development Fund Chairman, Member, NYS Gaming Commission Richard A. Ball, Commissioner, NYS Dept. of Agriculture & Markets Jeffrey A. Cannizzo, Executive Director, New York Thoroughbred Breeders, Inc. Barry Sample, Chairman, NYS Gaming Commission • John A. Crotty, Member, NYS Gaming Commission Philip S. Birsh, Breeder • John Graziano Jr., Breeder • Joseph G. McMahon, Breeder Sen. Howard C. Nolan Jr., Breeder • Dr. William B. Wilmot, D.V.M., Breeder Tracy Egan, Executive Director New York State Thoroughbred Breeding & Development Fund Corp. 1 Broadway Center, First Floor, Schenectady, NY 12305 (518) 388-0174. www.nybreds.com 5 A HEARTFELT THANKS TO Our Events Planning Committee: Scott Ahlschwede, DVM, Lois Engel, Thomas J. Gallo III, Vivien Malloy, Lere Visagie. Kara Bluvas, NYTB Membership and Events Manager Sarah Mace, NYTB Communications Manager Awards Program produced by ST Publishing, the team behind The Saratoga Special and thisishorseracing.com Articles by Joe Clancy, Sean Clancy, Tom Law and other staffers. Cover photo by Kathy Landman. Cover design by The Bell Group. Photos by Coglianese/NYRA Photos unless otherwise noted. ST Publishing, Inc. • (410) 392-5867 • www.thisishorseracing.com See you in Saratoga this summer. Call us for your advertising or editorial needs. 6 Congratulations. The NTRA’s federal legislative team salutes all New York-bred divisional champion nominees. Enjoy this evening that celebrates your year of excellence. www.SupportHorseRacing.org 7 Horse of the Year • Two-Year-Old Male Tiz the Law B. c. 2017, Constitution-Tizfiz, Tiznow. Breeder: Twin Creeks Farm. Owner: Sackatoga Stable. Trainer: Barclay Tagg. 3-2-0-1. $347,000. 2019 stakes: Champagne (Gr. 1). BY SEAN CLANCY on’t bother looking it up. It’s been 17 years. That’s when Funny Cide, Sackatoga Stable and Barclay Tagg Drocked Thoroughbred racing, winning the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and nearly the Triple Crown. The overachieving gelding, his unheralded owners and his hardscrabble trainer changed New York breeding and rac- ing forever. And here they are again with another tal- ented New York-bred aiming at the top. Tiz the Law, champion 2-year-old colt and Horse of the Year for 2019, has won three of four starts, including the Grade 1 Champagne as a 2-year-old and the Grade 3 Holy Bull as a 3-year-old. The Kentucky Derby is on the ra- dar, whether it’s on the first Saturday in May or the first Saturday in September. For Sackatoga’s founder, Jack Knowlton, winning the Kentucky Derby was a one-off achievement, one he wouldn’t dare dream about again. The Saratogian and his sta- ble played their model of buying a few New York-breds every year since Funny Cide but to think it could happen again… “Come on, you not only climbed to the top forth, agonizing, can you really aim as high as the Grade 1 Cham- of the mountain, but you climbed to the top of Mount Everest,” pagne, the second best 2-year-old race in the country behind the Knowlton said in March. “Everybody who has ever wanted to be Breeders’ Cup?” Knowlton said. “The more we talked about it and in this game, everybody who is in this game, you want to win the the more we looked at who was out there, finally, I said to Barclay, Kentucky Derby. And we did it. The chances of that happening to us were so remote, and yet, it did happen.” ‘The way he ran in Saratoga, the number he got, the way he did it, To happen a second time... there doesn’t seem to be any distance limitations.’ We decided to “Never in my mind, never an aspiration, never an expectation, take a shot. Sometimes you get lucky and we did.” not really even a hope,” Knowlton said. “Never could I imagine that Tiz the Law stumbled, regrouped, waited and ripped past horses we would be in the position to have a horse that we would consider to dominate the Grade 1 stakes. a Derby horse. Not just a Derby horse, but he’s on just about every- Tagg and Knowlton opted to skip the Breeders’ Cup like they body’s list.” had done with Funny Cide and traveled to Churchill Downs for the Purchased from Sequel New York for $110,000 at the Fasig-Tip- Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club. That was a bust, he finished a tan- ton New York-bred yearling sale in 2018, Tiz the Law followed gled-and-wrangled third, fumbling an Eclipse Award in the process. Funny Cide’s path and went to Tony Everard in Florida for ear- “He got beat, but we knew that wasn’t the horse we had,” Knowl- ly training and arrived at Tagg’s barn in the spring.