Award of Merit goes to Cot Campbell

By: SPORTS NETWORK

New York, NY (Sports Network) - Cot Campbell, president of Dogwood Stable, will be presented with the Eclipse Award of Merit for a lifetime of outstanding achievement in thoroughbred racing. Eclipse Awards are voted on by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), Daily Racing Form and the National Turf Writers and Broadcasters.

"This Award of Merit is a blockbuster for me," said Campbell. "I am surprised, delighted, and very appreciative that it comes my way. It is the highlight of a career that has been exhilarating, to put it mildly."

The 84-year-old Campbell, of Aiken, SC, will pick up the honor at the 41st annual Eclipse Awards on Monday, January 16 in Beverly Hills, CA.

"Very few people are pioneers and trendsetters in their line of business," said trainer Todd Pletcher. "Cot Campbell has been just that with the racing partnership concept -- not only introducing it, but doing it at the highest level and with class all the way."

Pletcher, a five-time Eclipse Award winner, has trained stakes winners for Campbell since 1996.

Campbell is credited with beginning the idea of syndicated racehorse ownership. He founded Dogwood Stable in 1973 and won the 1990 Preakness Stakes and Pennsylvania Derby with Summer Squall. The stable was honored with the 1987 Eclipse Award for champion steeplechase horse Inlander. In 1996, Storm Song, a daughter of Summer Squall, won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies and was voted champion two-year-old filly.

Campbell announced in November he was going into "semi-retirement," and while he will not form new partnerships in 2012, he will continue existing partnerships.