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KTO honors Wiggins as Horseman of the Year Veteran trainer Hal Wiggins, nearing the end of a distinguished training career capped by a record-smashing victory by Rachel Alexandra (Medaglia d'Oro) in the Kentucky Oaks (G1), will be honored on Saturday as the recipient of the 2008 Warner L. Jones Jr. Horseman of the Year Award, which is presented annually by the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners (KTO). Wiggins will receive the award during the KTO's 21st annual awards dinner, which is scheduled for 6 p.m. (EST) at the Big Spring Country Club, 5901 Dutchmans Lane, in Louisville, Kentucky. Since 1989 the KTO has presented the Warner L. Jones Jr. Horseman of the Year Award to a member of the racing industry who displays the spirit and passion for the sport exhibited by the late Warner L. Jones Jr., the famed Kentucky Thoroughbred breeder and owner and former chairman of the board of Churchill Downs. Wiggins, 66, plans to retire at the conclusion of the Churchill Downs fall meet on November 28, ending a distinguished training career than spans 34 years. The third-generation horseman launched that career with Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses in Louisiana in 1975, but Wiggins enjoyed his greatest success after he moved his training base to Kentucky. His clear career highlight came this spring when he saddled Dolphus Morrison and Mike Lauffer's Rachel Alexandra to score a record-smashing 20 1/4-length victory in the 135th running of the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill. The homebred miss was purchased after that win by Stonestreet Stable and went on to record one of the most remarkable campaigns by a three-year-old filly in American racing history. Rachel Alexandra is among the front-runners for the Eclipse Award for 2009 Horse of the Year. Wiggins has saddled nearly 870 winners in his training career. Other stars conditioned by the native of Port Arthur, Texas, include Chorwon, a three-time winner of the Louisville H. at Churchill who earned more than $1 million in his career, as well as Morris Code, a multiple stakes winner who earned $745,000 in her career. Upon retirement, Wiggins and his wife, Renee, plan to move back home to Texas. Their son, Lon, is a Thoroughbred trainer based in Illinois. The previous winners of the KTO's Warner L. Jones Jr. Horseman of the Year Award are Shug McGaughey (1989), Arthur B. Hancock III (1990), Woodford C. "Woody" Stephens (1991), Pat Day (1992), MacKenzie "Mack" Miller (1993), William. T. Young (1994), D. Wayne Lukas (1995), Allen R. Paulson (1996), James M. "Jim" Bolus (1997), W. Elliott Walden (1998), William S. Farish (1999), James E. "Ted" Basset III (2000), Jennie Rees (2001), Kenneth McPeek (2002), Dale Romans (2003), Kenneth & Sarah Ramsey (2004), John Asher (2005), Thomas H. Meeker (2006), Carl Nafzger (2007) and Brereton C. Jones (2008).
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