Queen’s Plate and Woodbine Oaks winner also named Champion 3-Year-Old Filly
Apr 14, 2023 by Jennifer Morrison, Canadian Thoroughbred
X Men Racing, SF Bloodstock and Madaket Stables’ MOIRA, winner of the Queen’s Plate and Woodbine Oaks in 2022, was voted Canada’s Horse of the Year and honoured April 13 at the 48th Sovereign Awards, presented by the Jockey Club of Canada. The bay Ontario-bred daughter of Ghostzapper – Devine Aida by Unbridled’s Song, trained by Kevin Attard, was also crowned Champion 3-Year-Old Filly at the annual ceremony which was held at Universal Eventspace just north of Woodbine Racetrack. She was bred by Adena Springs.
Moira’s campaign of three wins from five starts and $819,267 in earnings was enough to sway the voters to vote for her over Charles Fipke’s LADY SPEIGHTSPEARE, who won two Sovereign Awards for Champion Older Mare Main Track and Champion Female Turf Horse.
X Men Racing, a new ownership syndicate of Canadians, was started by Donato Lanni, a bloodstock agent who has brought new owners into the sport. David Anderson of Anderson Farms owns a share in X-Men Racing and was among the group which accepted the Sovereigns for Moira. “As we all know, great horses make mediocre horsepeople look smart,” added Anderson. “But when you do it year in and year out like Donato Lanni, something’s right. This is the smartest guy in the business.”
“I never would have thought when we put this group together we would have got a horse like this,” said Lanni. “I want to thank Peter the groom, Korina, who gallops her, our jock, Raffie and our trainer of the year, Kevin Attard. All the credit goes to Kevin, he did it all.”