The most important honor given at thoroughbred racing’s Eclipse Awards on Monday night was the Award of Merit for outstanding lifetime achievement given to Cot Campbell, the 84-year-old president of
Dogwood Stable, for pioneering the concept of forming partnerships to own race horses. That foresight decades ago could now prove to be the saving grace for a sport in dire need of a boost in main stream popularity.
“It’s just a thrill. What a great compliment. It’s generated so many nice letters and phone calls from great friends and people everywhere. I’m overjoyed,” Campbell told me in an interview this week. “Nobody ever received this award that will appreciate it more than I do."
The success of partnerships is the reason why they have grown to the point where in 2010 they made up 48 percent of the nearly 40,000 registered thoroughbred owners in the U.S. and Canada.
Dogwood’s major success began with Summer Squall winning the Preakness Stakes in 1990 and continued when her daughter, Storm Song, won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies in 1996.
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