Champion racehorse Life Is Good and his owners, Winstar Farm and China Horse Club, headlined the list of winners at the 2023 Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Horseracing Excellence Awards in Dubai on Saturday night.
China Horse Club's Eden Harrington and Morgan Harries represented the partnership when collecting the Best Owner Award and Best Horse Award among the eight categories recognized at a ceremony held at Meydan Racecourse during the Dubai Racing Club's 'Super Saturday' programme.
Sheikh Rashid bin Dalmook Al Maktoum. Chairman of Dubai Racing Club, with Eden Harrington, Vice President of CHC
"These awards acknowledge the exceptionalism of Life Is Good and the phenomenal journey to take China Horse Club and Winstar Farm on," said Harrington, Vice President of China Horse Club.
"Horse racing is joyous. We share that belief with His Highness Sheikh Mohammed. On behalf of the entire partnership, we thank him for the most generous and thoughtful awards.
Sheikh Rashid bin Dalmook Al Maktoum. Chairman of Dubai Racing Club, with Morgan Harries of CHC
“We also congratulate WinStar Farm, with whom we have shared a succession of life changing moments, Todd Pletcher, Irad Ortiz and the entire team involved with Life Is Good. We also look forward to continuing to support horse racing in Dubai in years to come.”
Trainer, Todd Pletcher
Jockey, Irad Ortiz
It is only the third time in the awards history that the winners of the Best Owner Award have raced the winner of the Best Horse Award.
Life Is Good won three of his four starts following his sojourn to Dubai, adding the G1 Whitney Stakes, G1 Woodward Stakes and G2 John A. Nerud Stakes to a curriculum vitae that already included successes in the 2021 G1 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and 2022 Pegasus World Cup.
The eight time stakes winner retired to WinStar Farm at the end of 2022 as one of the most in demand first season sire America has seen in many years. In recent days the first mares covered by Life Is Good have been scanned in foal.
The His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Horse Racing Excellence Awards are an expression of Sheikh Mohammed’s passion for horses and racing from a very young age. These annual awards honour the best in the industry across eight categories - Best Horse; Best Jockey; Best Trainer; Best Owner; People’s Choice Award, Lifetime Achievement Award, Excellence Award and Best Local Jockey.