THE?TRIO?of owner Lord Michael Taylor, breeder Sir Charles Williams and racehorse Shared Adventure dominated the Barbados Thoroughbred Breeders Association’s (BTBA) Garrison Turf Awards which were held on Friday night at the Island Inn Hotel.
In a ceremony to reward outstanding achievements in 2012 and 2013, Shared Adventure sent a strong warning to his competition for Saturday’s Sandy Lane Barbados Gold Cup as he captured the Horse Of The Year title.
Collecting the award was part-owner David Murray. In a short acceptance speech he threw down the gauntlet to all and sundry by saying that once the track was firm, they would see what Shared Adventure could do.
The top horse achieved 11 wins from 16 starts, the highlight of which was victory in last year’s Sandy Lane Spa Sprint Stakes & Trophy over 1 100 metres.
Lord Michael Taylor, owner of Blue Diamond Racing, once again collected the M.E.R. Bourne Award as champion owner.
Some of his standouts were Daga, Show Me The Money and Vitality.
Sir Charles Williams has been a leading breeder for several years, winning more than 100 races in the last four years alone.
Predictably, Sir Charles ran away with the Sir John Chandler Award for champion breeder through horses like Kendal Moon and Vapour Trail, both owned by him, along with the unbeaten champion two-year-old Kariba Rose.
BTBA president Peter Odle, in his address, said the Garrison Turf Awards served to reward good horses and good owners for their contributions to racing with public recognition so as to encourage people back into the sport.
There was thunderous applause when Odle announced that the BTBA would be naming one of its races after the late Francis Cozier, a former stalwart. The president also paid tribute to the late Clayton Greenidge and Darcy Flatts.
Odle also revealed that he had drafted a letter and was seeking signatures for it to be sent to the Barbados Turf Club asking it to revisit its decision to suspend nominations for four of the Classic races and what was once the Victor Chandler Stakes.
Nick Parravicino took the 2012 BTC Directors Award and Collin Roachford the 2013 version.
The 2012 Golden Horse Shoe of Merit went to the Joseph Brothers-owned Areutalkintome, while the 2013 award went to Victor Cheesman.
The Claire Melville Award for outstanding service to the industry was bestowed on Wayne “John Henry” Best (2012) and Victor Gaskin (2013).
