NEWS
Stronach wins outstanding breeder, owner awards
Posted: Monday, January 26, 2009 9:01 PM
FRANK STRONACH
NTRA photo
by Jeff Lowe and Tim Nichols
It may not be as much a tradition as mint juleps in May, but Frank Stronach winning an Eclipse Award in January is rapidly becoming an annual ritual.
This year, the voters served up a double.
In sweeping the awards for outstanding owner and outstanding breeder, Stronach added to his already sterling reputation as an astute horseman with a keen eye for quality bloodstock. The 76-year-old native of Austria has won more Eclipse Awards—six as outstanding breeder and four as outstanding owner—than any other individual in the 38-year history of the awards.
Stronach also garnered both the owner and breeder awards in 2000. The only other recipients of both honors in the same year were Harbor View Farm in 1978, Ogden Phipps in 1988, and Juddmonte Farms in 2002.
Stronach’s Adena Springs breeding empire spans North America with farms in Paris, Kentucky; Williston, Florida; and Aurora, Ontario.
His stallions, both veterans and newcomers, repeatedly have proved themselves as sires of quality progeny.
The three proven jewels of Stronach’s stallion roster are Awesome Again, El Prado (Ire), and Touch Gold. Adena also stands Awesome Again’s homebred son Ghostzapper, the Horse of the Year for 2004 and a freshman sire in ’09.
Awesome Again ranked tenth among stallions by average earnings per runner and 22nd by total progeny earnings in 2008. The 15-year-old by Deputy Minister, winner of the 1998 Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), sired Stronach’s homebred 2007 champion older female Ginger Punch.
Progeny by Touch Gold and El Prado have proved to be successful throughout the world. El Prado standout Lord Admiral has either won or placed in graded or group stakes on three continents while Touch Gold’s top earner of 2008, Ferrari Pisa, is a multiple stakes winner in Japan.
Newcomers Congaree and Olmodavor both ranked in the top 20 among North American freshman sires by earnings in 2008.
In addition to boasting three of the top ten Florida-based sires—Alphabet Soup, Milwaukee Brew, and Red Bullet—all but one of Stronach’s stallions are younger than 20 years old.
The Stronach racing stable also is spread throughout North America, with an especially large presence at Woodbine during the spring, summer, and fall and at Gulfstream Park in the winter.
Stronach achieved prominent success on both sides of the border in 2008, registering a Canadian classic win with Harlem Rocker in the Prince of Wales Stakes at Fort Erie and three United States Grade 1 victories with Ginger Punch. Harlem Rocker also finished first in the Hill 'n' Dale Cigar Mile Handicap (G1) at Aqueduct and was disqualified to second for interference in the stretch.
Ginger Punch also scored a milestone triumph in the 2008 Sunshine Millions Distaff Stakes, succeeding as Stronach’s first starter in the event he created.
Jeff Lowe is a Thoroughbred Times senior writer
Tim Nichols is a Thoroughbred Times TODAY assistant editor
Stronach Stables and Adena Springs
Owner: Frank Stronach
Date of birth: September 6, 1932
2008 record as breeder: 572 starters, 603 wins
2008 earnings as breeder: $19,217,703
2008 record as owner: 466 starters, 114 wins
2008 earnings as owner: $6,677,124
Leading homebred runners in 2008: Giant Gizmo, Ginger Brew, Ginger Punch, Harlem Rocker, Spring Waltz, Sugar Swirl
Other 2008 graded stakes winners bred by Adena Springs: Buffalo Man, Fatal Bullet, Just Rushing, My Princess Jess, Temporary Saint
