World Approval garners dual Florida-bred championship awards

Live Oak Plantation’s brilliant homebred World Approval took home honors as Florida’s 2016 Champion Turf Horse (which he also won in 2015) and Champion Older Male during the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association annual Awards Banquet and Gala held in Ocala, FL.

World Approval tallied the biggest win of his career in last year’s United Nations Inv. (G1). Overall, he won or placed in five graded stakes and earned $504,713. The now 5-year-old kicked off his 2017 campaign with a smart score in the $100,000 Turf Classic at Tampa Bay Downs on April 2.

World Approval is the latest in a long line of top-class Live Oak runners out of their mare Win Approval, who was also named Florida’s 2016 Broodmare of the Year. Her colt Miesque’s Approval was 2006 Eclipse Champion Grass Horse and Florida Turf Champion, while Revved Up was named Florida’s 2005 Champion Older Male. She is also the dam of Za Approval, a three-time graded stakes winner of nearly $1.4 million.

World Approval is current with his trainer Mark Casse at Churchill Downs, where he is prepping for a likely start in the May 6 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic (G1), a race he lost last year by just a neck.