Eclipse Award of Merit to Glen Hill's Lavin

Florida owner/breeder Leonard Lavin will be honored with the Eclipse Award of Merit for a lifetime of outstanding achievement, according to an announcement Dec. 28 from the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA), Daily Racing Form, and the National Turf Writers And Broadcasters.



Lavin, 96, will be honored at the 45th Annual Eclipse Awards dinner and ceremony on Saturday, Jan. 16, at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.



"I am both surprised and deeply honored to receive the Eclipse Award of Merit," Lavin said in a statement. "It is truly my proudest moment in the horse business, a business that has been one of the great pleasures of my life. From the normal Thursday cards to racing in the Breeders' Cup and everything in between I have found every moment to be a thrill and a reward. With that has come the wonderful relationships made with people throughout the industry, the camaraderie with our team at Glen Hill Farm, and of course the horses we've had the pleasure of breeding, owning and racing. And now this award provides a capstone that leaves me both humbled and grateful."



Born in Chicago in 1919, Lavin told the Ocala Star Banner that from the time he was a 9-year-old and saw Reigh Count win the 1928 Kentucky Derby, he has always held a special place in his heart for horses, and for Ocala, which has been his family's "second home" since 1966, when he and wife Bernice, who died in 2007, bought their first horse.



"It's an ideal place to raise horses, the best in the country," Lavin said of Ocala. "It's beautiful country, the climate is wonderful, the soil is very good. Our family has just loved it here."



Under the care of Hall of Fame trainer Willard Proctor and his son, Tom, the Glen Hill racing and breeding operation has produced more than 80 stakes winners, including 1994 Breeders' Cup Distaff (gr. I) winner One Dreamer. Other Glen Hill stakes winners include Relaunch, Convenience, Top Rung, Concept, Win, Repriced, Rich in Spirit, Closeout, and Marketing Mix. Among Relaunch's stakes winners campaigned by Lavin were Potentiality, Carload, Media Plan, and One Dreamer.



Lavin also recalled the 1972 match race victory by his filly Convenience over national champion Typecast, which drew more than 50,000 to Hollywood Park, as his greatest racing highlight.



In 2008, Lavin's grandson, Craig Bernick, took over the reins of Glen Hill Farm. 



In 1947, while working in sales at a national consumer products company, Lavin met Bernice Weisner at a dance. They were married six months later. In 1955, the Lavins purchased a West Coast beauty supply company and its top product, Alberto-VO5 Conditioning Hairdressing, and moved the operation to Chicago. The Lavins built Alberto-Culver Co. into a household products and personal beauty care American success story and sold it to Unilever for $3.7 billion in 2010.



Alberto-Culver Co. became a Breeders' Cup race sponsor in 1990 and continued to sponsor the event through its products until 2005.



"Leonard Lavin and his family and team have been a stalwart of the Thoroughbred industry for 50 years, not only as immensely successful breeders and owners and through their philanthropic involvement, but in our case at the Breeders' Cup as one of our earliest and most steadfast marketing partners," said former Breeders' Cup president and 1998 Eclipse Award of Merit winner D.G. Van Clief Jr. "Alberto Culver's long-running sponsorship of the Breeders' Cup created a mold that continues to this day."



Lavin, who is the author of "Winners Make It Happen: Reflections of a Self-Made Man", has won numerous awards and honors for his philanthropic, civic, and business endeavors and his family has supported many racing-related charitable causes.



The Award of Merit will be given for the 40th time since it was inaugurated in 1976.



The Eclipse Awards are voted by NTRA, Daily Racing Form, and the NTWAB. Awards also are given to recognize members of the media for outstanding coverage of Thoroughbred racing.



Click here for a complete list of past Eclipse Award winners, including the Award of Merit recipients.