The American Quarter Horse Journal – The American Quarter Horse Association will announce the 2010 AQHA Racing Champions awards live at 6 p.m. CST on Wednesday, January 12, from Heritage Place in Oklahoma City. With an elite awards-ceremony atmosphere, this year’s event will include champagne and valet parking for attendees. If you can’t make it to the event, the show will be broadcast free of charge on Q-Racing Video.
This year’s awards are wide open, with a number of legitimate contenders in many categories.
The freshman crop saw a number of top performances throughout the year, including that of 2-year-old colt American Runaway, who won the Ruidoso Futurity (G1) and was second in three other Grade 1’s while leading the AQHA Racing-Horseplayernow.com 2-Year-Old Poll for much of the year. The 2-year-old filly category includes 10 tough contenders that include A Snowy Cartel, the only freshman to notch two Grade 1 wins, while California starlet Flying Fig was three times the runner-up in Grade 1 races with purses of $1 million-plus.
The 3-year-old contingent was especially strong in 2010, including the likes of world record-setter Double Down Special and Champion of Champions (G1) victor Apollitical Jess. In the spring, Double Down Special lowered the 400-yard world mark to :18.613, then went on to win the Ruidoso Derby (G1) and defeat Apollitical Jess in the All American Derby (G1). He set a single-year earnings record for horses 3 and up, earning $1,147,067. Juan Alberto Lizarraga Tirado’s homebred Apollitical Jess came back from his All American defeat to set a 400-yard track record in the Los Alamitos Super Derby (G1), then went on to defeat a strong field of older horses in the Champion of Champions and lower the track’s 440-yard mark to :20.939.
Aged mare contender Spit Curl Diva won eight of 10 races in 2010, racing at six tracks in six states. She faces contention from five other mares, including Bank of America Challenge Championship (G1) winner Feature Jess Rockin. A strong field of aged geldings include two-time Grade 1 winners Freaky, Jess You And I and Noconi. Freaky, last year’s world champion, won the Los Alamitos Winter Championship (G1) and Robert L. Boniface Los Alamitos Invitational Championship (G1) and was second in the Go Man Go Handicap (G1). Jess You And I was a well-traveled jetsetter during his 6-year-old campaign, which included wins in the Bank of America Oklahoma Championship Challenge (G1) and Remington Park Invitational (G1) as well as a third in the Los Alamitos Winter Championship and a fourth in the Champion of Champions. Noconi made a limited year count, winning four of five outs including the Zia Park Championship (G1) and The Championship at Sunland Park (G1) in addition to two Grade 2 races.
The awards for outstanding people in the American Quarter Horse racing industry include champion owner, breeder, trainer and jockey. Among the candidates for champion owner are New Mexico’s Vanessa Bartoo, whose stable had a 40 percent win record and led all owners in money earned with the help of her Grade 1 winner Double Down Special. Last year’s champion breeder, Dr. Edward C. Allred, saw 181 winners from 1,066 starters and topped the list of breeders by money earned, more than $755,000 ahead of the second-place breeders, Bob and Jerry Gaston. The Gastons bred the winners of 15 of 65 starts, including Double Down Special and Grade 1 winner Bodacious Dash. Paul Jones looks to continue his stranglehold on the Blane Schvaneveldt Champion Trainer award, as his horses earned $4.3 million for the year, more than $1 million above the next-closest rival. Esgar Ramirez, who guided Mr Piloto home in the All American Futurity (G1), topped the jockey earnings list with more than $3.3 million and is in contention to earn his first champion jockey award.
Nominees automatically qualify based on 2010 earnings or statistics; members of the AQHA Racing Committee may nominate additional horses. The 25 members of the AQHA Racing Champions Selection Subcommittee then vote on a final ballot in each of these 21 categories:
2-year-old colt
2-year-old filly
2-year-old gelding
3-year-old colt
3-year-old filly
3-year-old gelding
Aged stallion
Aged mare
Aged gelding
Distance horse
Canadian race horse
Mexican race horse
Broodmare
Trainer
Breeder
Owner
Jockey
Overall 2-year-old
Overall 3-year-old
Overall aged horse
World Champion
Winners in all categories receive a bronze trophy created by equine sculptor Lisa Perry. A unique Lisa Perry bronze has been created to honor the world champion.
The champions announcements will also honor other racing achievements that happened in 2010, including Stolis Winner becoming the new all-time leading American Quarter Horse racing money earner; the new members of the exclusive Dams of Distinction and Supreme Race Horse clubs; and Cartel Caliente becoming only the 48th horse in AQHA history to be honored as an AQHA Supreme Champion.
The public is welcome to attend the live event at Heritage Place Sale Co., which will be hosted by Tom Dawson and Remington Park’s Dale Day. There is no admission charge, but seating is limited, and nominees are given priority. For information on attending, please call AQHA at (806) 376-4811 and ask for the racing department.
Fans can watch the awards presentation live and free of charge on Q-Racing Video, a subscription race video service. Nonsubscribers who wish to view the program can do so by submitting a valid e-mail address.
To learn more about the 2010 champions, don’t miss the March Q-Racing Annual Review, a supplement of The American Quarter Horse Journal. To subscribe, click here.
American Quarter Horse Association
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