With the 2008 O'Brien Awards just days away, the SC website will shine the spotlight on the finalists in each O'Brien division
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This profile features the finalists for the O'Brien Award of Horsemanship
John Kopas has deep family roots in harness racing as his father Jack, a member of the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame, passed along the horsemanship gene to his son. Kopas has been training horses since the 1970s and has been a longtime participant on the WEG circuit.
In 2008, at the age of 54, he enjoyed a career best year, training horses to earnings in excess of $1.6 million. His stable was led by three-year-old pacing colt Keystone Horatio, a stakes winner who netted over $567,000 during the season. The Rustler Hanover colt scored wins in the Burlington and Canadian Breeders Championship.
Other top performers for Kopas were two-year-old pacing colt Shipps Xpectancy, a winner of over $221,000, and two-year-old trotting filly Raising Rachel, a winner of seven of eight races and $175,000.
Phil Pinkney
For the second consecutive year, veteran Nova Scotia based horseman Phil Pinkney is a finalist for the O’Brien Award of Horsemanship.
Pinkney is always a dominant force in the Atlantic provinces, traveling to racetracks between his home base in Truro, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. Pinkney enjoyed a career year in training and driving in 2007 and nearly duplicated those statistics in 2008. Pinkney is another second generation horseman and has been navigating his way around racetracks and racehorses since the impressionable age of 10.
In 2008, Pinkney trained stakes winning pacing colts Absolom and Deep Finesse. Deep Finesse won 15 of 18 starts in his juvenile campaign and netted over $80,000 for his owner-trainer-driver while sophomore pacer Absolom enjoyed 15 top three finishes and earned over $43,000.
Who can take a baby who
Who can take a baby who shows little or no character and make him into a confident individual? Cock of the walk some might say. Who can see a young horse who needs a little more time to mature and say maybe we should turn him out. Even if it is costs him many days wages. I have even seen him tell owners, "maybe someone else should be training him", if they disagree. He always has the best interest of the horse in mind.
He is a gentleman and a person who loves to be surrounded by and to teach young people, something our sport needs to ensure its survival. He quietly works his long day at the barn with his packed lunch in hand, never leaving until all his work is done.
I have watched him arrive at the barn before sunrise to make sure all of his pupils have been schooled before heading to one of the many tracks in Atlantic Canada to race. He then returns home well into the morning to lay his head down for a short rest. Just a few short hours later he's back to the beat of the same drum. Yes, this is a horsemens life, but I have never seen a person hovering around 70 years of age do this with such conviction and record of accomplishment.
His records speak for themselves. His numbers are small, his average is unbelievable, his personality great, and what he does for the sport...even better. It really doesn't matter whether Phil Pinkney receives this award at all. However never in all my years being around horses have I had the privilege of knowing someone more deserving of the O'Brien award, or any other horsemanship award for that matter, than Phil. Best of luck.