HONORING 2017 NEW YORK DIVISIONAL BRED CHAMPIONS NEW YORK THOROUGHBRED BREEDERS ANNUAL AWARDS BANQUET Monday, April 9, 2018 Saratoga National Golf Club Saratoga Springs, New York Sponsored by 18-1236 STP NYTB Awards program cover USE.indd 1 3/21/18 1:48 PM New York’s Horsemen TAKE THE LEAD on Thoroughbred Aftercare NYTHA’S TAKE THE LEAD Thoroughbred Retirement Program helps to ensure happy and health lies or the horses retiring rom the NYRA tracks Working with New York’s owners and trainers, TAKE THE LEAD has placed more than 350 retired racehorses with Thoroughbred Atercare Alliance-accredited organiations For more information, go to www.take2tbreds.com. 2 A HEARTFELT THANK YOU TO OUR PARTNERS Awards Dinner Sponsored By Platinum Partners Gold Partners Chester & Mary Broman Silver Partners Bronze Partners Edition Farm • Greenberg Traurig, LLP Industry Partners Adirondack Trust Company • Capital OTB • Dickinson & Avella, PLLC • Keeneland 3 A MESSAGE FROM THE NYTB EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR n behalf of myself, my staff and the Board of Directors of New York Thor- oughbred Breeders Inc., I extend a warm welcome to our guests this evening. Every April at NYTB’s Awards Banquet, we get together to celebrate the racetrack achievements of the New York Thoroughbred Breeding Program Ofrom the prior year. Our video program will showcase all equine nominees as we crown the year’s New York-bred divisional champions, followed by the announcement of the 2017 New York-bred Horse of the Year. We also take this occasion to congratulate the most successful human participants in our program. I would like to draw attention to some highlights among the New York-bred achieve- ments around the ovals last year. In 2017 New York-breds combined to win 106 stakes races worth $19.3 million. These wins came at 16 racetracks from coast to coast and beyond, and exactly half that number– or 53 victories – came in open stakes. Among these, 15 individual New York-breds won 19 graded stakes races last year. Three New York-breds achieved success at the very top tier of Grade/Group 1 racing. In late March, Mind Your Biscuits rallied to a wide-trip victory in the Dubai Golden Shaheen at Meydan Racecourse. October saw Diversify post a wire-to-wire victory in the storied Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park. In November at the Breeders’ Cup in Del Mar, Bar of Gold upset the Filly and Mare Sprint at longshot odds of 66-1. The Breeders’ Cup World Championships once again featured a strong contingent of New Yorkers, six horses in all, four by New York sires. In addition to Bar of Gold’s Filly and Mare Sprint victory for which she was voted an Eclipse Award finalist, Disco Partner by late New York sire Disco Rico finished third in the Turf Sprint, and Mind Your Biscuits by former New York sire Posse was third in the Sprint. I would be remiss not to also mention Ken- tucky-bred Sharp Azteca by New York sire Freud who finished second in the Dirt Mile. New York-breds made headlines in other ways last year. Patricia Generazio’s homebred Disco Partner established a world record time of 1:05.67 for 6 furlongs on turf in last year’s renewal of the Jaipur Invitational. Voodoo Song amazed everyone at the Spa when he posted four victories during the meet, capped by a frontrunning victory in the Grade 3 Saranac. The last horse to win four races during a single Saratoga meet was the legendary Native Dancer in 1952. Meanwhile, three more New York-breds attained millionaire status in 2017: Bar Of Gold, Highway Star, Japan-based Rieno Tesoro and veteran Weekend Hideaway. Of the most successful horsemen active in our program, it should surprise no one that the brothers Ortiz – Irad and reigning Eclipse champion jockey Jose – combined to win 17 stakes races aboard New York-breds. Among the outstanding trainers of New York-breds we find the usual suspects like Charlie Baker, Jeremiah Englehart, Linda Rice, Rudy Rodriguez, Dominick Schettino and Rick Violette. These days, however, the New York stalwarts are also sharing the limelight with many of the biggest barns in the country. Among those who have heeded the call to “get with the program” are Eclipse-winning trainer Chad Brown, who won 13 stakes with New York-breds, Christophe Clement with seven stakes wins and Todd Pletch- er with nine. Kiaran McLaughlin and Bill Mott are also getting in on the act. Last, but certainly not least, we all must tip our hats to perennial leading Finger Lakes trainer Chris Englehart, who was inducted into the Finger Lakes Hall of Fame last fall. In general, our farms and breeding program continue to thrive – there were 263 active farms in New York in 2017. The New York Thoroughbred Breeding and Development Fund, the principle sponsor of this event, distributed $17.2 million in awards and purse enrichment last year and breeders’ awards alone topped out at over $10.6 million. The average breeder’s award was worth just shy of $17,000. Meanwhile New York-breds go from strength to strength in the sales ring, gaining value every year. After tonight everyone will return to the hard work of breeding, foaling, breaking, training and racing New York-breds, but for now please sit back and enjoy our program. Everyone in this room should feel proud of the accomplishments of the best regional breeding program in the country and keep remembering that, if you breed the best to the best in New York, only the sky is the limit. 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. Michael Lischin H. James Bond Joanne Nielsen Lois Engel Suzie O’Cain Seth Gregory Joan M. Taylor, DVM Director Emeritus Chester Broman 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 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, Breeder Tracy Egan, Executive Director New York State Thoroughbred Breeding & Development Fund Corp. 1 Broadway Center, Suite 601, Schenectady, NY 12305 (518) 388-0174. www.nybreds.com 5 ABOUT OUR EMCEE ichard Migliore is currently a racing analyst for XBTV. Known best for a stellar career as a jockey, Migliore won more than 4,400 races over a career spanning three decades. Migliore, who was born in 1964 and grew up on Long Island, got a job on a Rhorse farm near his home and decided he was going to be a jockey at age 12. He began riding in 1980, and in 1981 won the Eclipse Award as the nation’s top apprentice with 298 victories. Twice the leading rider in New York – in 1981 and 1985 – Migliore won or tied as leading rider at 10 different NYRA meets, most recently taking the 2005 Aqueduct spring meet. A fixture on the NYRA circuit, Migliore announced his retirement on June 2, 2010. “The Mig,” as he was known, rode 4,450 winners and the earners of more than $160 mil- lion in purses. Some of his biggest victories came later in his career, taking his first Breeders’ Cup race in 2008 aboard Turf Sprint winner Desert Code, and in 2009 capturing the Grade 1 Gazelle and Grade 1 Test aboard Flashing. In all, Migliore won 362 stakes, including 25 Grade 1 races. A HEARTFELT THANKS TO Our Events Planning Committee: Scott Ahlschwede, D.V.M., Lois Engel, Thomas J. Gallo III, Vivien Malloy, Joanne Nielsen, Suzie O’Cain. Kara Bluvas, NYTB Membership and Events Manager • Sarah Mace, NYTB Communications Manager Our Wonderful Partners • Our Event Patrons Our Emcee Richard Migliore • Saratoga National Golf Club SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR PATRONS Ralph Evans • Lauren Evans • Capstone Graphics • Daily Racing Form – Terry Leffel White Birch Farm, Inc. – Peter M. Brant • Francis J. Paolangeli • Jeanne C. Paolangeli Charlton Baker • James Brill • Margo Brill • Sugar Plum Farm & War Dancer • Joan Wilmarth 6 ORDER OF EVENTS WELCOME Jeffrey A. Cannizzo, NYTB Executive Director INTRODUCTION Thomas J. Gallo III, NYTB President PRESENTATION OF AWARDS Richard Migliore, Master of Ceremonies AWARDS CATEGORIES New York-Bred Champion Two-Year-Old Filly New York-Bred Champion Two-Year-Old Male New York-Bred Champion Three-Year-Old Filly New York-Bred Champion Three-Year-Old Male New York-Bred Champion Turf Female New York-Bred Champion Turf Male New York-Bred Champion Female Sprinter New York-Bred Champion Male Sprinter New York-Bred Champion Older Dirt Female New York-Bred Champion Older Dirt Male New York-Bred Horse of the Year New York Broodmare of the Year New York-Bred Trainer of the Year New York-Bred Jockey of the Year New York Breeder of the Year Awards Dinner 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. Photos by Coglianese/NYRA Photos unless otherwise noted. ST Publishing, Inc. • (410) 392-5867 • www.thisishorseracing.com 7 TWO-YEAR-OLD FILLY FINALISTS Berning Rose Dk. b./br.