Winchell honored with KTA-KTOB for lifetime achievements
Information provided in a KTA-KTOB press release. Photo above of Ron Winchell at the podium at the awards dinner courtsey KTA-KTOB
Ron Winchell was honored last week with the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners & Breeders’ Lifetime Contributions Award for both his impact on the state as co-managing partner of Kentucky Downs and nationally with his breeding and stallion program.
The KTOB also announced its 2024 Kentucky-bred champions and Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund leaders and merit award winners at the organization’s Champion Kentucky-bred Awards Dinner presented by Hallway Feeds.
Winchell, and Kentucky Downs co-managing partner Marc Falcone, continued and greatly enhanced Kentucky Downs’ policy of sending both KTDF funds and association funds generated by the track’s historical horse racing gaming to other tracks in the state. At some point, every Kentucky track has received funding from its purse account, most notably Ellis Park and Keeneland, whose own HHR program is at The Red Mile harness track, with the Lexington tracks sharing in the revenue. Kentucky Downs’ funding to Ellis Park includes making its popular Kentucky Downs Preview Weekend possible. KTDF purse transfers must be approved by the Kentucky Horse Racing & Gaming Corp., while association money is sent to other tracks in an agreement with the Kentucky Horsemen’s Benevolent & Protective Association.
Winchell’s impact on the breeding industry has been huge, starting with the transformative stallion Tapit, one of the last yearlings Winchell purchased with father, Verne, who died two months after paying $625,000 at Keeneland’s September sale for the Pulpit colt. Arkansas Derby winner and millionaire Sandman, a leading Kentucky Derby contender, is a son of Tapit.
More recently, Winchell campaigned 2017 Horse of the Year and $15.9 million-earner Gun Runner in partnership with Three Chimneys. He’s been an outstanding stallion since his first crop, including unbeaten 2-year-old filly champion Echo Zulu.
IThe KTOB press release included this proclamation about Winchell: “Whose venerable family legacy in Thoroughbred breeding & racing, shrewd acquisition of Kentucky Downs with partner Marc Falcone, and altruistic investment of Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Funds with multiple sister racetracks transformed Kentucky into the leading year-round racing circuit in the United States.”
Winchell’s trainer, Steve Asmussen, was the KTDF trainer of the year, which is based on his horses’ KTDF earnings in 2024. The brilliantly fast Cogburn, trained by Asmussen and winner of the Grade 2 Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint, was feted as the Kentucky-bred champion sprinter and male turf horse.
Goliad, who in a six-day span at Kentucky Downs won a $500,000 handicap and the $2 million Mint Millions (G3), was recognized as the KTDF leading earner of the year.
Kentucky Downs and FanDuel Racing analyst Caton Bredar received the Charles W. Engelhard Award for outstanding coverage of the thoroughbred industry. Bredar also was the event’s emcee and didn’t know she’s won the award until her husband, Doug, came up to present it to her.
Also:
Puca, dam of 2024 Belmont Stakes and multiple Grade 1 winner Dornach and 2023 Kentucky Derby winner Mage, was named the 2024 Broodmare of the Year. North American Horse of the Year and Kentucky Oaks winner Thorpedo Anna was named the 2024 Champion Kentucky-Bred Horse of the Year in addition to Champion Kentucky-Bred Three-Year-Old Filly for her successful year of five Grade 1 wins and a Grade 2 win. Godolphin was crowned KTDF Owner & Breeder of the Year, with the former being the fourth consecutive year of being awarded the title. In addition, Godolphin was presented with the P.A.B. Widener Award for the fifth consecutive year, as well as an award for Immersive, named Champion Kentucky-Bred Two-Year-Old Filly.
The complete list of KTOB/KTDF award winners:
2024 KTOB Broodmare of the Year and her owner and 2024 Champion Kentucky-Breds and their breeders:
· Broodmare of the Year: PUCA (Owner: Resolute Bloodstock LLC)
· Horse of the Year, Three-Year-Old Filly: THORPEDO ANNA (Judy Hicks)
· Two-Year-Old Male: CITIZEN BULL (Robert Low & Lawana Low)
· Two-Year-Old Filly: IMMERSIVE (Godolphin)
· Three-Year-Old Male: SIERRA LEONE (Debby M. Oxley)
· Older Dirt Male: National Treasure (Peter E. Blum Thoroughbreds, LLC)
· Older Dirt Female: IDIOMATIC (Juddmonte Farms Inc.)
· Male Turf Horse/Male Sprinter: COGBURN (Bellary Bay Bloodstock)
· Female Turf Horse: SHE FEELS PRETTY (Payson Stud, Inc.)
· Female Sprinter: SOUL OF AN ANGEL (Westbrook Stables, LLC)
· Racing Abroad: CITY OF TROY (Orpendale/Chelton/Wynatt)
· Steeplechase Horse: SNAP DECISION (Phipps Stable)
Merit awards:
· P.A.B. Widener Trophy for KTOB Breeder of the Year: GODOLPHIN
· Hardboot Breeders’ Award pays tribute to distinctive but unsung breeders that help make up the backbone of our industry: ALEX RANKIN & SARAH RANKIN. (Alex Rankin is Churchill Downs Inc.’s board chairman.)
· Charles W. Engelhard Award acknowledges a member of the media for outstanding coverage of the Thoroughbred industry: CATON BREDAR
· William T. Young Humanitarian Award distinguishes a person or organization in the thoroughbred industry “who recognizes and promotes the human endeavor”: STABLE RECOVERY
2025 Lifetime Contribution Award: RONALD WARREN WINCHELL
Top Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund (KTDF) 2024 money earners in 2024
· KTDF Sire of the Year: TWIRLING CANDY (Lane’s End Farm)
· KTDF Earner of the Year: GOLIAD (Perry R. Bass, II & Ramona S. Bass)
· KTDF Owner of the Year: GODOLPHIN
· KTDF Trainer of the Year: STEVEN M. ASMUSSEN
· KTDF Breeder of the Year: GODOLPHIN
Recipients of the 2024 KTOB Kentucky-Bred Champion awards were voted on by the full membership of KTA/KTOB while the KTDF category leaders were tabulated using purse money won at KY racetracks in 2024. KTOB merit award recipients were voted on by the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association/KTOB Board of Directors.
In existence since 1967 and 1983, respectively, the KTOB and KTA direct their efforts toward promoting and protecting the Thoroughbred industry by maintaining the highest levels of racing, breeding and training standards in the Commonwealth.
