‘Eagle’ soars at awards
THE Sean Tarry-trained Greys Inn gelding Legal Eagle was crowned Equus Horse Of The Year for the second year in succession at the Emperor’s Palace on Tuesday night.
The awards panellists had to make the usual number of decisions which were going to be contentious no matter which horse they chose.
However, there were also the usual number of recipients who received rousing applause for being thoroughly deserving.
The panellists stuck rigidly to the criteria which stated “The awards are based on graded races and in particular Grade 1 races”.
There was an exception made to this rule for the Stayer’s Award which stated, “As regards the stayer category, the winning horse will be at the discretion of the voting panel. This decision was taken as the only Grade 1 race in SA is the SA Derby, which would mean that this should be the obvious winner based on a single run. This would also have excluded fillies and mares.”
The Champion Three-Year-Old Male award, won by the Brett Crawford-trained Edict Of Nantes, was likely decided on number of Grade 1 victories alone as many had expected William Longsword to win it. Edict Of Nantes was the only dual Grade 1 victor in this category, winning the Investec Cape Derby and the Daily News 2000, and was good enough to justify champion status.
However, the question remains whether he was as good as William Longsword and Gold Standard, whose dominance out in front in the Grade 1 Grand Parade Cape Guineas was one of the outstanding memories of the season. Gold Standard defeated Edict Of Nantes in both of their meetings and went on to finish an outstanding fourth in an ultra strong Grade 1 Sun Met. However, he was not even a nomination for the category due to his lack of a Grade 1 win.
William Longsword
William Longsword opted for the big money route on Met and Cape Derby day and won the US$500,000 CTS Mile. He was then retired to stud, while Gold Standard was laid off for the rest of the season. The three-year-old male award possibly highlights the need for the big sales races and the Grade 1 classics to have separate calendar slots.
The Tarry-trained Carry On Alice finally broke her Equus duck in her fourth season and nobody would have begrudged this thoroughly deserving individual from walking away with both the Champion Sprinter and Champion Older Female awards.
The panellists had tough tasks in both categories as they included the respective nominations Bull Valley and Bela-Bela, who, like Carry On Alice, had both won two Grade 1s each.
The panellists might have viewed the Grade 1 Betting World Cape Flying Championship over 1 000m, won by Carry On Alice, as the strongest of the relevant Grade 1s and on paper it certainly was. Some would have pointed to Rafeef having beaten Carry On Alice in their only meeting in the Grade 1 Computaform Sprint, but that was his only Grade 1 victory of the season. He was then retired to stud.
The unluckiest non-winners were Bela-Bela and Bull Valley. However, Bela-Bela at least received consolation in that her dam Mystic Spring finally won the Broodmare Of The Year award, in which she had been so unlucky in the past. Mystic Spring’s other top offspring include the champion Rabiya as well as stakes winners, Rafiya, Spring Lilac, Touch The Sky and Secret Of Victoria, and the latter has become a matriarch herself.
Legal Eagle once again proved himself invincible over a mile. He remained unbeaten over this trip and defended his crowns in both the weight for age (wfa) Grade 1 L’Ormarin’s Queen’s Plate and the wfa Grade 1 HF Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut Stakes. He was giving Whisky Baron 2,5kg when defeated by 1,5 lengths in the Grade 1 Sun Met and was giving Deo Juvente 1kg when defeated a neck in the Grade 1 Premier’s Champions Challenge, both over 2 000m.
He also won the Grade 2 WSB Green Point Stakes. As well as the Horse Of The Year award, he also won the Champion Miler award and the Champion Older Male award.
The Brett Crawford-trained Met winner Whisky Baron was undefeated in five starts in the season, including a Grade 2, and deservedly won the Champion Middle Distance Award.
The Weiho Marwing-trained Hermoso Mundo became the first horse to do the “Gold” stayers treble, winning the Gold Bowl over 3200m, the Gold Vase over 3 000m and the Gold Cup over 3 200m, and he deservedly won the Stayer’s Award, ousting Grade 1 SA Derby winner Al Sahem.
The Champion three-year-old Filly and Champion two-year-old Male awards were expectedly won by the Joey Ramsden-trained Just Sensual and the brilliant Mike de Kock-trained Mustaaqeem respectively.
Lady In Black
The Dennis Drier-trained Lady In Black won the two-year-old filly award. Lady In Black’s Grade 1 victory was narrow, while Brave Mary was a runaway winner in the Grade 1 Allan Robertson, but, on the other hand, Lady In Black was undefeated in three starts, while Brave Mary was defeated three times.
The other awards were: Silvano, Stallion Of The Year; Dynasty received an Outstanding Stallion Award; Klawervlei Stud were Breeders Of The Year; Varsfontein Stud won an Outstanding Breeder Award; Anthony Delpech was Champion Jockey; Lyle Hewitson was Champion Apprentice; Mayfair Speculators were Champion Owners; Mike de Kock received an Industry Merit Award.