Awad (90) Caveat - Dancer's Cancy, by Noble Dancer
Awad (90) Caveat - Dancer's Cancy, by Noble Dancer
Awad was already winning graded stakes on turf at the age of two, and as a 3-year-old won his first of four grade 1 turf races when he took the Secretariat Stakes (gr. IT). A Maryland-bred who raced as a homebred for James P. Ryan's Ryehill Farm, Awad won the Maryland Million Turf Stakes in 1993 as one of four added-money victories that year. A late-closer, Awad was always at the mercy of pace and traffic, but would give his all. His style compromised him, and while he continued to win at the graded stakes level, he often missed the winners' circle while picking up checks for second or third.
His 4-year-old season was an abbreviated one, but he made up for it at five. Not only did he win the Arlington Million (gr. IT), but he set a new course record of 1:58 3/5 for the 1 1/4 miles at Arlington Park. He added victories in the Early Times Manhattan (gr. IT) and the Pan American Handicap (gr. IIT), as well as finishing second in the Sword Dancer Invitational (gr. IT) and the Bowling Green Handicap (gr. IIT). Awad even tried the Japan Cup (JAP-I), although he finished unplaced.
The next year, at age six, Awad was still going strong for trainer David Donk and owner Ryan. He failed to win a stakes race, but placed either second or third in four grade I events and a second in the Caesars Palace Turf Championship Handicap (gr. IIT). He returned at age seven in 1997 to win the Sword Dancer and set a new course record of 2:23 1/5 for the 1 1/2 miles at Saratoga. He also placed in four other added-money events. His only race in 1998 was an eighth-place finish in the Pan American Handicap at Gulfstream Park, and he retired in July. With earnings of $3,270,131 and a record of 70: 14-10-11, Awad was an iron horse who could never be counted out of any race. He won or placed in 30 stakes, 11 of them grade I. Awad will stand at the Northview Stallion Station in Cheasapeake City, Maryland for $3,500.