Berg, the 12th recipient of the annual award to honor an "unsung hero" in racing, will receive $5,000 and a bronze statue of Dominion at a luncheon at the Reading Room in Saratoga Springs, NY, on August 4. She was selected from 54 nominations by judges Anne Campbell, Penny Chenery and Jerry Bailey.
In 1995 Berg founded the Glen Ellen Vocational Academy (GEVA), an eight and a half acre ranch that is Northern California's only equine retirement facility. Here, for the most part with her own labor and financial resources, Berg looks after horses that likely would have been slaughtered if she had not rescued them. "She feeds these horses, mucks all the stalls, repairs fences, and organizes fundraisers to help support her charges while commuting to her job as steward at several Northern California race tracks. In many instances GEVA is not the last stop for the horses—if they are able to be rehabilitated, she will find new homes for them, as she has done with over 100 ex-racehorses," Campbell said.
The award was inspired by the multiple stakes winner Dominion, who was campaigned by Dogwood in the 1970s and went on to become five-time Champion Sire in England. It was created upon his death in 1993 to recognize the "unsung heroes" in the racing industry. Former winners are H. W. "Salty" Roberts, Howard "Gelo" Hall, Peggy Sprinkles, Grace Belcuore, Nick Caras, Donald "Peanut Butter" Brown, Daniel Perlsweig, Katherine Todd Smith, Julian "Buck" Wheat, Jim Greene and Shirley Edwards, and Neftali "Junior" Gutierrez.
Past honorees, friends and family of the 2004 winner, and various racing enthusiasts and industry leaders will attend the Dogwood sponsored luncheon at Saratoga.
