by Steve Myrick

Three ordinary people who did extraordinary things are nominated for the fifth annual White Horse Award. The award, given annually by the Race Track Chaplaincy of America, to the person judged to have performed the most heroic act on behalf of human or horse.

The award will be presented at the Chaplaincy's annual luncheon on October 25th at Monmouth Park, host of the 2007 Breeders' Cup.

Rodney Anderson, a trainer, was nominated for saving a three-year-old child following a powerful tornado which struck Holly, Colorado.

Anderson literally climbed a tree in the horrific weather to rescue the child, who was trapped after a mobile home was blown into the tree by the destructive wind. After rescuing the child, he climbed back into the tree in an attempt to rescue the child's mother. Despite his heroic effort, the mother became the storm's only fatality.

Johnny Arredondo Ponce is a United States Navy seaman whose heroic connection to the racetrack happened by coincidence. Seeing an overturned van on the San Diego Freeway, Ponce turned, and found a man with a nearly severed arm. The man was Noa Garcia, groom to seven-time Grade 1 winner Lava Man. Ponce, relying on his Navy training, applied a tourniquet to Garcia's arm. Paramedics said he saved Garcia's life.

Missy Morris is well known for her equine heroics at Meadows Raceway, a Standardbred track in Western Pennsylvania. But even her admirers were astounded when she chased down two loose horses from the same race. After a spill, she and her Quarterhorse, Kneehigh, caught a panicked horse heading the wrong way into the remaining field. After turning over that horse to a handler, she went back and caught another horse bound for a head-on collision with the field.

The White Horse Award winner gets a $5,000 prize and a bronze statue. The two runners-up will receive $1,500 awards and other gifts.