The
Longfellow Stakes at Monmouth Park produced another vintage race call by Triple
Crown track announcer Larry Collmus, “Sean Avery coming by the eighth pole with
a five length lead, pulling away as they come down to the wire, Sean Avery
SCORES!”
Of
course, Sean Avery, the winning five-year-old thoroughbred, is named for the
controversial hockey player of the New York Rangers.
Sean Avery, ridden by Joe Bravo, covered the six furlong
race in a quick 1:09.27 winning by a final margin of just under 12 lengths. Bravo
said, "That was real impressive.
Around the turn he was pulling on me and gave me every indication he
would be tough. I just held on and enjoyed the ride." Sean Avery paid
$4.80 in his first stakes victory.
Sean
Avery the hockey player was once suspended for six games for inappropriate
comments while he was a member of the NHL Dallas Stars. The Sean Avery Rule was created when,
during a playoff game power play, he stood waving his arms and stick in the
face of the opposing goalie. Avery
is known as quite a clotheshorse, with a keen interest in becoming involved in
women’s fashion when he is done playing hockey. He is also an outspoken supporter of same sex marriage,
having made a May 2011 video for the New Yorkers for Marriage Equity campaign.
Trainer
Allen Iwinski handled Sean Avery the horse as a two year old, with minor
injuries limiting him to one start.
He spent his three-year-old campaign in the New York barn of Mike
Hushion, where he won 2 races. Sean Avery did not race in 2010 and went back to
Monmouth for his five-year-old season. Iwinski said, “He’s a much more mature
horse now. He’s professional, he
knows what he is doing and he loves what he is doing.”
ABC’s of the Monmouth Hall of Champions -Today Desert Vixen – Desert Vixen won the 1973 Eclipse Award for
three-year-old fillies and the 1974 Eclipse for Older Mares. She raced 28 times
going 13-6-3, including, in a period of two weeks in 1973, wins at Monmouth
Park in the G3 Post Deb and the G1 Monmouth Oaks. She entered the Racing Hall
of Fame in 1979. Desert Vixen ranks 17 in the Horse Racing Nation Top 250 Fillies and Mares of All-Time with an 8.65/10 rating.