European horseracing’s equivalent of the Oscars, the 28th Cartier Racing Awards were presented at a glittering ceremony before an invited audience at the Dorchester Hotel, London on Tuesday evening.
The longstanding and prestigious awards were established in 1991 to reward excellence in horseracing.
Kitten’s Joy colt Roaring Lion, owned by Qatar Racing Limited, became the fourth Cartier Horse Of The Year in the last five years to be trained by John Gosden at Newmarket, following on from Kingman (2014), Golden Horn (2015) and Enable (2017).
John Gosden (photo: Investec)
Purchased as a yearling by Qatar Racing’s racing manager David Redvers at the 2016 Keeneland September sale for US$160,000, the son of Kitten’s Joy enjoyed an outstanding year with victories in three G1 contests over 10 furlongs in the space of just over two months from July to September – the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown Park, the Juddmonte International at York and the QIPCO Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown.
Roaring Lion is Cartier Horse Of The Year
Roaring Lion followed up on those superb wins with a fourth straight G1 success when dropped down in distance to a mile for the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (Sponsored by QIPCO) at Ascot on QIPCO British Champions Day on October 20.
If that were not enough, Roaring Lion also ran a great race on his only attempt at 12 furlongs when a close third behind Masar in Britain’s premier Classic, the Investec Derby at Epsom Downs in June.
Three of the other four nominations for Cartier Horse of the Year, Enable, Stradivarius and Cracksman – the 2017 Cartier Three-Year-Old Colt – are also trained by Gosden. The final nomination for Cartier Horse Of The Year honours was Alpha Centauri.
2018 – CARTIER RACING AWARDS
Cartier Two-Year-Old Colt:
- Too Darn Hot
Cartier Two-Year-Old Filly:
- Skitter Scatter
Cartier Three-Year-Old Colt:
- Roaring Lion
Cartier Three-Year-Old Filly:
- Alpha Centauri
Cartier Sprinter:
- Mabs Cross
Cartier Stayer:
- Stradivarius
Cartier Older Horse:
- :Enable
Cartier Horse of the Year:
- Roaring Lion owned by Qatar Racing Limited
Cartier/Daily Telegraph Award of Merit:
- David Oldrey
