Sealy Hill (April 14, 2004 – February 23, 2021) was a Canadian

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thorough ...

racehorse Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

who won three

Sovereign Award {{refimprove, date=October 2021 The Sovereign Award is given annually since 1975 by the Jockey Club of Canada to the outstanding horses and people in Canadian Thoroughbred racing. The most prestigious award for horses is Sovereign Horse of the Y ...

s in 2007, including

Canadian Horse of the Year The Canadian Horse of the Year is a thoroughbred horse racing honour given annually since 1951 by the Jockey Club of Canada. It is the most prestigious honour in Canadian thoroughbred horse racing. Part of the Sovereign Awards program since 1975, ...

. In 2013, she was inducted into the

Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame The Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame was established in 1976 to honour those who have made a significant contribution to the sport of harness racing, harness and Thoroughbred racing, Thoroughbred horse racing in Canada. It is located at Woodbine ...

. Owned and bred by Canadian businessman

Eugene Melnyk Eugene Nestor Melnyk (May 27, 1959 – March 28, 2022) was a Canadian businessman, philanthropist, and owner, governor, and chairman of the National Hockey League (NHL)'s Ottawa Senators and the American Hockey League's Belleville Senators. He w ...

, Sealy Hill was named for a village in Melnyk's adopted home,

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

. She was sired by 2001

American Horse of the Year The American Award for Horse of the Year, or simply Horse of the Year, one of the Eclipse Awards, is the highest honor given in American thoroughbred horse racing. Because Thoroughbred horse racing in the United States has no governing body to san ...

, Point Given. Her dam is Boston Twist, a daughter of the 1996

American Champion Two-Year-Old Colt The American Champion Two-Year-Old Male Horse is an American Thoroughbred horse racing honor awarded annually in Thoroughbred flat racing. It became part of the Eclipse Awards program in 1971. The award originated in 1936 when the ''Daily Racing F ...

and

Breeders' Cup Juvenile The Breeders' Cup Juvenile is a Thoroughbred horse race for 2-year-old colts and geldings raced on dirt. It is held annually in late October or early November at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the Breeders' Cup W ...

winner,

Boston Harbor Boston Harbor is a natural harbor and estuary of Massachusetts Bay, located adjacent to Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Port of Boston, a major shipping facility in the Northeastern United States. History 17th century Since its dis ...

. Trained by

Mark Casse Mark E. Casse (born February 14, 1961) is a Thoroughbred racehorse trainer whose most notable horses include 2015 American champion turf mare Tepin and Canadian Horses of the Year Sealy Hill (2007), Uncaptured (2012), Lexie Lou (2014), Catc ...

, as a two-year-old, Sealy Hill got her first stakes win in the 2006 Glorious Song Stakes. In 2007, after defeating the highly regarded

Panty Raid A panty raid was a prank occurring in American coeducational colleges in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s; the term dates to February 1949. It consisted of a horde of male students attempting to invade living quarters of female students and steal t ...

in the Bourbonette Breeders' Cup Stakes at

Turfway Park Turfway Park is an American horse racing track located within the city limits of Florence, Kentucky, about south of the Ohio River at Cincinnati. The track conducts live Thoroughbred horse racing during two meets each year—Holiday (December), ...

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

, she finished far back of winner

Rags to Riches Rags to riches (also rags-to-riches) refers to any situation in which a person rises from poverty to wealth, and in some cases from absolute obscurity to heights of fame, fortune and celebrity—sometimes instantly. This is a common archetype i ...

in the

Kentucky Oaks The Kentucky Oaks is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred fillies staged annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. The race currently covers at Churchill Downs; the horses carry . The Kentucky Oaks is held on the Frida ...

Churchill Downs Churchill Downs is a horse racing complex in south Louisville, Kentucky, United States that hosts the annual Kentucky Derby. It opened in 1875 and was named for Samuel Churchill, whose family was prominent in Kentucky for many years. The first ...

. Back home in Canada, the filly returned to form, winning four stakes races while becoming the first-ever winner of the Canadian Triple Tiara. On grass she earned a second in the

Grade I In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

E. P. Taylor Stakes and the GII

Canadian Stakes The Canadian Stakes is a Grade II Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Run in mid September, it is a Grade II event open to fillies and mares, three years of age and older. It is raced on turf ove ...

. For her 2007 performances, Sealy Hill was voted Canadian Champion 3-Year-Old Filly,

Canadian Champion Female Turf Horse The Canadian Champion Female Turf Horse is a Canadian Thoroughbred horse racing honor that is part of the Sovereign Awards program awarded annually to the top female Thoroughbred horse competing in Canada in races on turf. Created in 1975, by the J ...

and the most prestigious honor in Canadian racing,

. In 2008, Sealy Hill finished third in her second try at the E. P. Taylor Stakes, then finished a strong second in the 2008

Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf The Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf is a Weight for Age Thoroughbred horse race on turf for fillies and mares, three years old and up. It is held annually at a different racetrack in the United States as part of the Breeders' Cup World Championsh ...

behind Forever Together. Casse said she was a temperamental filly who was her own worst enemy, especially in the starting gate. “Her mood swings and antics changed from minute to minute. You never knew which direction she was going to go, what she was going to do. At times she was more concerned with running over the competition than actually running by them.” In 2013, Sealy Hill was inducted into the

. She died on February 23, 2021.

References

{{reflist
Sealy Hill's pedigree and partial racing stats
2004 racehorse births 2021 racehorse deaths Racehorses bred in Canada Racehorses trained in Canada Sovereign Award winners Canadian Thoroughbred Horse of the Year Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductees Thoroughbred family 2-o