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The O Awards for Racing Excellence

By North-End | 24 Oct 2008 | MUMBAI


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The O Awards for Racing excellence is scheduled for this Saturday night at the O Hotel in Pune. Racing in Pune has been just that – racing. There has been not a singular such event to recognize the talents or achievements of professionals/Owners or even contribution to the sport by any individual for that matter. The O Awards then, come as a refreshing innovation where both equine and human accomplishments will be given its due. The O Awards, will be an awards ceremony on the lines of any major Film or business awards is hosted by The O Hotels with the backing of the RWITC in Pune. An extravagant night will be the event of the week in Pune with the who of racing expected to grace the night at the O Hotel. The List of The Categories and the Nominees is as Follows: Category Nominees Champion Owner : Dr. MAM Ramaswamy, Five Star Shipping (The Dhunjibhoys), Vijay Shirke & JM Livestock (Jaydev Mody) Champion Owner (10 or fewer horses) :Mr. VN Babu, Mrs Villoo Poonawalla Racing Champion Trainer : Pesi Shroff, Narendra Lagad & Vinayak Champion Trainer (20 or fewer horses) : Dr. Anil Kumar, S. Mangalorkar & Nana Raghunath Champion Jockey:Malesh Narredu, C. Rajendra, & Samuel Fargeat Champion Allowance jockey : Kishore Kadam, Akash Agarwal & AM Tograllu Champion Sire:Razeen (Usha Stud Farm), Glory Of Dancer (Nanoli Stud Farm), Diffident (Poonawalla Stud Farm) & Placerville (Poonawalla Stud Farm) Champion Horse : Personified, Diego Rivera & The Hurricane Champion Filly/Mare : Phenomenale, Yana & Aurora Aurealis Champion Horse : Arabian Knight Champion Juvenile : Phenomenale, Dancing Dynamite, Antonios, Exuberance & Angels Glory. Vivek Jain, Chairman of the Jury, stated, "Its a unique event for us and a ceremony of this type was long overdue. Its a beginning and we hope to emulate this season after season." An interesting dimension has been to give awards to the "small" owner (defined as owners with 10 or fewer horses) and "small" trainer (defined as 20 or fewer horses) and this makes the stakes high for owners and trainers with smaller string of horses who hitherto used to be over shadowed by the 'big boys' of racing. The last category for Champion Juvenile is open to judging by a public and anyone can nominate his/her choice by either emails or penning on the "Nomination Form' at both the Mumbai and Pune race courses. To cast your vote, email your choice to dysecretary@rwitc.com before 4pm on Saturday – 25th October 08, if you are not at the venue. The O Hotels will also present four special awards for lifetime achievement, leadership excellence, contribution to racing and the legendary trainer award. A huge congregation from the racing world will join in the celebrations at a glittering ceremony at the O Banquet Hall on Saturday. The Jury, headed by Vivek Jain, also comprises of M/s Geoffrey Nagpal, Ashwin Mehta & Goutam Kotwal. The formula adopted by the Turf Authorities of India has been taken as the guideline. The O Awards is a much needed introduction of Recognition of racing excellence and Indiarace wishes the organizers the very best in this excellent endeavour.