Finer Points

For the second year in a row we take off our hats to a lady, and specifically a young lady. Sealy Hill was named Horse of The Year just one year after Arravale won it as a 3yo filly as well. Sealy Hill fully deserved the award in my opinion. Cloudy's Knight did have a higher TCR score but only just and Sealy hill was definitely more representative of the Canadian racing year. Cloudy's Knight made the minimum amount of starts but was not really Canadian.

The TCR had another decent year in terms of predictive accuracy. It did not match last years performance of 9 of the 10 winners but all the champions this year were ranked at least second by the TCR in their division.

Horse of the Year: Sealy Hill (2nd)
Older Male: True Metropolitan (1st)
Older Female: Financingavailable (2nd)
Turf Male: Cloudy's Knight (1st)
Turf Female: Sealy Hill (1st)
Sprinter: Financingavailable (2nd)
3yo Colt: Alezzandro (1st)
3yo Filly: Sealy Hill (1st)
2yo Colt: Kodiak Kowboy (1st)
2yo Filly: Dancing Allstar (2nd)

I think the most interesting result of the Sovereign Awards was that Leonnatus Anteas did not win the 3yo award. Instead it went to Alezzandro who was the top ranked TCR horse for that division and definitely had a better record this season. Leonnatus Anteas, though, was favored to win the award because of the general feeling that he is the best horse at Woodbine and he finished the year very strongly. I was pleasantly surprised that the voters looked past the reputations and got the right horse.

I think it's a shame that Monashee did not manage an award but more credence will always be given to the races at Woodbine and she flopped badly in her only try in Toronto. Western horses are getting better and better and if things continue as they are I'll bet we see some champions come from the west without having to prove themselves at Woodbine.