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 Pinkney Officially Is Given O'Brien AwardTRURO – This was one phone call worth getting up for. Central Onslow harness racing trainer Phil Pinkney received a call around midnight on Saturday. It took him a second to come to, but when his friend Bill Bannon told Pinkney he’d just won the O’Brien Award of Horsemanship for his contributions to the sport, he wasn’t long waking up. “That kept me awake for a while,” the 71-year-old said with a smile yesterday at Truro Raceway during a ceremony to recognize his achievement. “Just the magnitude of it. It’s quite a thing.” Pinkney didn’t attend the official awards ceremony in Mississauga, Ont., Saturday, saying he had several things back home to look after. He won the award by a 34-32 vote over Ontario trainer John Kopas. Pinkney was runner-up for the award a year ago. “It’s really a great honour just to be nominated,” Pinkney said. “I’m really proud to win it because it’s all across Canada. It’s a big place and there’s a lot of good horse people, even in Atlantic Canada.” Pinkney has earned a reputation of being one of the best developers of young horses in Atlantic Canada. Rightly so. This past season Pinkney trained stakes winning pacing colts, Absolom and Deep Finesse. Deep Finesse, a two-year-old, won 15 of 18 starts and ended the year with a 14-win streak, earning $85,600 – a record for two-year-olds in Maritime racing – and was the only Maritime triple crown winner. Pinkney purchased the colt from Belmont breeder Donald Porter. Absolom, a winner of the Maritime Breeders championship, enjoyed 15 top three finishes while earning $43,000. He equalled the track record at Summerside with a 1:56 mile. It must take some talent to have that kind of success, but Pinkney said he’s just lucky. “I’ve just had some really good horses,” he said. “I just try to treat them really well.” Although he’s had lots of success this past season, it’s hard to compete with the horse that will always hold a special spot in Pinkney’s heart – Dunachton Gale, a three-time winner of Horse of the Year honours. Dunachton Gale holds the track record at Truro with a 1:53.2 mile, taken on July 29, 2006, and is a Gold Cup and Saucer winner and has $200,000 in career earnings. “I bought him as a yearling and developing a horse like that feels pretty good.” That’s what has kept Pinkney going in the sport since he got involved at age 15. “I really like horses,” he said. “I like going and buying them and developing them into good horses.” sports@trurodaily.com
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