Avelino Gomez Memorial Award
Encyclopedia
The Avelino Gomez Memorial Award is a Canadian
thoroughbred horse racing
honor given annually to a jockey
who is Canadian-born, Canadian-raised, or a regular in the country for more than five years, who has made significant contributions to the sport. The honor is named for the late Cuban-born Canadian
and American Hall of Fame
jockey Avelino Gomez
who died in 1980 of complications from injuries sustained in a racing accident.
Avelino Gomez Memorial Award honourees receive a replica of the life-size statue of Gomez sculpted by Siggy Puchta that stands at Woodbine Racetrack
.
In 2004, Francine Villeneuve
became the first female recipient of the award.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
thoroughbred horse racing
Thoroughbred horse race
Thoroughbred horse racing is a worldwide sport and industry involving the racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport: Flat racing and National Hunt racing...
honor given annually to a jockey
Jockey
A jockey is an athlete who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing.-Etymology:...
who is Canadian-born, Canadian-raised, or a regular in the country for more than five years, who has made significant contributions to the sport. The honor is named for the late Cuban-born Canadian
Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame
The Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame was established in 1976 at the Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario to honor those who have made a significant contribution to the sport of harness and thoroughbred horse racing in Canada....
and American Hall of Fame
National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York, to honor the achievements of American thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and trainers...
jockey Avelino Gomez
Avelino Gomez
Avelino Gomez was a Cuban-born Hall of Fame jockey in American and Canadian thoroughbred horse racing.Born in Havana, Gomez began a career as a jockey at the urging of a family member...
who died in 1980 of complications from injuries sustained in a racing accident.
Avelino Gomez Memorial Award honourees receive a replica of the life-size statue of Gomez sculpted by Siggy Puchta that stands at Woodbine Racetrack
Woodbine Racetrack
Woodbine Racetrack is a Canadian racetrack for Thoroughbred horse races located at 555 Rexdale Blvd. in the city of Toronto, Ontario. It is the only horseracing track in North America which stages, or is capable of staging, thoroughbred and standardbred horseracing programs on the same day...
.
In 2004, Francine Villeneuve
Francine Villeneuve
Francine Villeneuve is a retired Canadian thoroughbred jockey and racing pioneer.She is sometimes referred to by the nickname "The Queen of Fort Erie" because of a long affiliation with the border oval...
became the first female recipient of the award.
Award winners
- 2011 : Emile RamsammyEmile RamsammyEmile Ramsammy is a Canadian thoroughbred horse racing Champion jockey. He had more than 500 victories racing in the Caribbean before emigrating to Canada in the early 1990s....
- 2010 : Stewart ElliottStewart ElliottStewart Elliott is an American thoroughbred jockey.Elliott grew up in horse racing; his father was a jockey for many years, his mother rode show horses and was a riding instructor, and his uncle owns a racing stable in Canada...
- 2009 : Robert King
- 2008 : Jack LauzonJack M. LauzonJack M. Lauzon is a retired Canadian Thoroughbred horse racing jockey whom The Blood-Horse magazine called "one of the most respected riders in Canada."...
- 2007 : George HoSang
- 2006 : John LeBlanc
- 2005 : Sam Krasner
- 2004 : Francine VilleneuveFrancine VilleneuveFrancine Villeneuve is a retired Canadian thoroughbred jockey and racing pioneer.She is sometimes referred to by the nickname "The Queen of Fort Erie" because of a long affiliation with the border oval...
- 2003 : Robert Landry
- 2002 : Richard Dos RamosRichard Dos RamosRichard Anthony Dos Ramos is a Canadian jockey in Thoroughbred horse racing. He grew up in Malton, Ontario where his family emigrated when he was young...
- 2001 : Chris LosethChris LosethChris Loseth is a Canadian Thoroughbred horse racing jockey. At age six, Loseth's family moved to Fort Nelson, British Columbia then in the year before he graduated high school they resettled in Grand Forks. As a boy he was inspired by the success of the great Alberta jockey, Johnny Longden...
- 2000 : James McKnight
- 1999 : David ClarkDavid K. ClarkDavid K. Clark is a Champion jockey in Canadian Thoroughbred horse racing. He began riding professionally at Ontario racetracks in 1973 and went on to become one of Canada's most successful jockeys of all-time.Clark won the 1998 Sovereign Award as Canadian Champion Jockey and on July 17 of that...
- 1998 : Irwin Driedger
- 1997 : Richard Grubb
- 1996 : David Gall
- 1995 : Don SeymourDon SeymourDonald J. Seymour is a Canadian jockey in Thoroughbred horse racing who is the only jockey in history to win two Canadian Triple Crowns....
- 1994 : no award
- 1993 : Larry AttardLarry AttardLarry Attard is a retired Hall of Fame Champion jockey and current horse trainer in Canadian Thoroughbred horse racing....
- 1992 : Robin PlattsRobin PlattsRobin Platts is a Canadian thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame jockey. He began his jockey career at age 16 and went on to become the winner of the 1979 Sovereign Award for Outstanding Jockey, a record four-time winner of Canada's most prestigious horse race, the Queen's Plate, and the...
- 1991 : Hugo Dittfach
- 1990 : Lloyd DuffyLloyd DuffyLloyd Duffy is a retired Canadian Champion jockey in Thoroughbred flat horse racing who uniquely is also a licensed driver of harness racing horses....
- 1989 : Jeffrey FellJeffrey FellJeffrey J. Fell is a retired jockey and a Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee who was also a successful rider in the United States.-References:* * *...
- 1988 : Chris RogersChris Rogers (jockey)Christopher J. Rogers was a Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame jockey about whom the great U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee Eddie Arcaro called "one of the most complete riders he had ridden against or watched." According to the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame, "Many horsemen consider Rogers...
- 1987 : Don MacBethDon MacBethDonald MacBeth was a Canadian jockey in Thoroughbred horse racing.Born in Red Deer, Alberta, Macbeth rode horses at Alberta racetracks before going to race in the United States. Among horses of note, he rode Deputy Minister, winner of the 1981 Sovereign and Eclipse awards for Outstanding...
- 1986 : Sandy HawleySandy HawleyDesmond Sanford "Sandy" Hawley, CM is a Hall of Fame jockey.Sandy Hawley started out as a plumber then later decided to be a jockey. He started his career as a jockey when he was a 17-year-old boy, hotwalking horses at a Toronto racetrack...
- 1985 : Johnny LongdenJohnny LongdenJohn Eric Longden was an American Hall of Fame jockey. He was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, England but his father wanted to build a better life for his family so in 1909 emigrated to Canada, settling in Taber, Alberta. By 1912 Longden Sr. had saved enough money to send for his wife and young son...
- 1984 : Ron TurcotteRon TurcotteRon Joseph Morel Turcotte, CM is a Hall of Fame thoroughbred race horse jockey best known as the rider of Secretariat, winner of the U.S. Triple Crown in 1973....