Get R Done and jockey Juan Delgado teamed up for two impressive victories in 2010 to earn the horse a Darley Award nomination.
Michigan will be represented by two Arabian divisional finalists at the upcoming Darley Awards.
Stakes winner Get R Done earned an invitation to the event in the three-year-old colts and geldings division and stakes-placed Ovour The Moon is a finalist for champion four-year-old filly.
The Darley Awards are the Arabian equivalent of Thoroughbred racing’s Eclipse Awards. The winners will be announced Mar. 5 in Houston, Texas.
Get R Done was the uncontested leader of Michigan’s juvenile division during the most recent meet at Mount Pleasant Meadows. He was a perfect two-for-two in 2010 for earnings of $5,150.
Arabian Finish Line magazine reports Get R Done ranked 12th in the nation by 2010 earnings among three-year-old Arabian colts and geldings. Because of their size and speed of development, Arabians do not begin their on-track careers until age three.
Get R Done kicked off his career on July 11, with a six-length victory in his maiden effort. The Virgule Al Maury gelding followed that effort with an emphatic 23-length romp in the Aug. 1 Michigan Arabian Juvenile Stakes.
Get R Done is homebred by Tom Fritz and trained by Mario Fritz. The gelding is also nominated for three year-end awards from Michigan’s Association of Racing Arabian Breeders, including the state’s horse of the year.
Other finalists for champion three-year-old male include multiple G3-placed Ovour The Top, G3 winner Rich Frynchman, stakes winner T M Fred Texas and G3 winner Venom.
Ovour The Moon competed at Arabian racing’s highest levels in 2010 and locked horns with some of the best in the sport.
The four-year-old Nivour De Cardonne filly spent most of her campaign at Delaware Park, arguably the breed’s marquee venue. She also participated in the breed’s highest-profile race in recent memory, the President of the United Arab Emirates Cup Stakes (G1) at Keeneland Race Course.
Trained by John Youngdale and homebred by Kathryn and Paul J. Smoke, Ovour The Moon won two of ten starts in 2010 for earnings of $22,079. She was last year’s third-leading earner among four-year-old females, according to Arabian Finish Line’s figures.
After a pair of unsuccessful tries in maiden company, Ovour The Moon earned her first win against a field of open claimers. A second-place finish in another claiming contest led to an off-the-board finish in the CRE Run Oaks Arabian Distaff Stakes (G2).
Ovour The Moon found the winner’s circle once again in an optional claiming race, following a third place effort in an allowance race. She then made the jump back to stakes company, with a runner-up finish in the Rosebrook Arabian Distaff Turf Handicap. Her year came to a close with a pair of unplaced finishes in the President of the United Arab Emirates Cup and teh Buzz Brauninger Distaff Stakes.
Ovour The Moon’s competition for divisional honors includes stakes winner Burning Fancy, multiple stakes placed Doranikaa, G2 winner Sand Witchh, and multiple stakes winner TM Super Bird.
In related news, Michigan-bred Quarter Horse Cold Cash 123 was a finalist for the American Quarter Horse Association’s Racing Champion two-year-old gelding, which was decided Jan. 12
The Oak Tree Special gelding won the Nov. 28 Southwest Juvenile Championship Stakes (G1) at Zia Park and drew away in the Sept. 6 All-American Juvenile Invitational, the consolation race for the All-American Futurity, after winning his trial race. He finished the year ranked seventh nationally among two-year-olds.
However, Cold Cash 123 did not receive a single vote in his division’s Racing Champion ballot, which was won by multiple track record-setter JLS Mr Bigtime.
The Michigan-Bred Claimer 