Three superstar females feature among the nominations for the 29th Cartier Horse Of The Year, with Enable, Magical and Star Catcher all possible winners of the coveted award.
Enable, who was crowned Cartier Horse Of The Year and Cartier Three-Year-Old Filly in 2017 and Cartier Older Horse in 2018, added a further three G1 wins to her CV in 2019 under regular partner Frankie Dettori.
Enable – front runner
The John Gosden-trained five-year-old mare, homebred by owner Prince Khalid Abdullah, recorded victories in the Coral-Eclipse, King George VI & Queen Elizabeth QIPCO Stakes and Darley Yorkshire Oaks. Her career earnings now stand at over £10 million. Enable’s old rival Magical, trained by Aidan O’Brien for a Coolmore syndicate, was also a three-time G1 scorer this year, while Enable’s three-year-old stablemate Star Catcher won three times at the highest level too.
The male contenders for Cartier Horse Of The Year include superstar stayer Stradivarius, also trained by Gosden, Bjorn Nielsen’s five-year-old won five of his six starts this year and landed the Weatherbys Hamilton Stayers Million for the second year in succession, as well as the traditional Stayers Triple Crown.
Also nominated are Godolphin’s outstanding sprinter Blue Point and Waldgeist, trained by Andre Fabre for Gestut Ammerland & Newsells Park, who achieved success in Europe’s richest race – the G1 Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.
The 29th annual Cartier Racing Awards will be presented at a glittering ceremony before an invited audience of 300 at the Dorchester in London, England, on the evening of Tuesday, November 12, 2019.
European horseracing’s top awards are delivered through a tried and tested combination of points earned by horses in Pattern races (30%), combined at the end of season with the opinions of a panel of racing journalists/handicappers (35%) and votes from readers of Racing Post and The Daily Telegraph plus ITV Racing viewers (35%).
Stradivarius – super stayer
Blue Point, Enable, Magical, Stradivarius and Waldgeist also feature among the nominees for Cartier Older Horse, where they are joined by Crystal Ocean. Homebred by Sir Evelyn de Rothschild and trained by Sir Michael Stoute, the highlight of Crystal Ocean’s season came when successful in the G1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot, when he got the better of Magical.
The Cartier Three-Year-Old Colt category sees two nominees from the Ballydoyle team in Circus Maximus and Japan, both dual G1 winners. They are joined by two John Gosden-trained colts in Logician, who ended an unbeaten campaign with victory in the G1 William Hill St Leger and Too Darn Hot. Lord Lloyd-Webber’s Too Darn Hot, who bagged the Cartier Two-Year-Old Colt award in 2018, bounced back with two G1 successes in 2019 including the Qatar Sussex Stakes at Goodwood.
In the Cartier Three-Year-Old Filly division, Star Catcher is joined by her stablemate and G1 Investec Oaks heroine Anapurna. QIPCO 1,000 Guineas and Tattersalls Irish 1,000 Guineas heroine Hermosa and Iridessa, the only European-trained winner at this year’s Breeders’ Cup, are also nominated.
Blue Point – top sprinter
Blue Point also features the nominees for Cartier Sprinter along with Advertise, who was twice a winner at G1 level, impressive G1 Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes victor Battaash and So Perfect, who was very consistent throughout the season.
Stradivarius is also a nominee for Cartier Stayer, an award he won 12 months ago, along with Dee Ex Bee, his Ascot conqueror Kew Gardens and Logician.
Godolphin is doubly represented in the Cartier Two-Year-Old Colt division with Earthlight and Pinatubo. Both sons of Shamardal, they each went through 2019 unbeaten and were successful twice in G1 company. The G1 Vertem Futurity Stakes victor Kameko and Siskin, who was unbeaten in four starts including the G1 Keeneland Phoenix Stakes, are also nominated.
In the Cartier Two-Year-Old Filly division, G1 scorers Albigna and Quadrilateral both go forward, where they are joined by two nominees who went down with considerable credit at the very highest level – Daayeh and Raffle Prize.
Nominations for the 29th Cartier Racing Awards – in alphabetical order
Cartier Horse Of The Year
Blue Point
Enable
Magical
Star Catcher
Stradivarius
Waldgeist
Cartier Older Horse
Blue Point
Crystal Ocean
Enable
Magical
Stradivarius
Waldgeist
Cartier Three-Year-Old Colt
Circus Maximus
Japan
Logician
Too Darn Hot
Cartier Three-Year-Old Filly
Anapurna
Hermosa
Iridessa
Star Catcher
Cartier Sprinter
Advertise
Battaash
Blue Point
So Perfect
Cartier Stayer
Dee Ex Bee
Kew Gardens
Logician
Stradivarius
Cartier Two-Year-Old Colt
Earthlight
Kameko
Pinatubo
Siskin
Cartier Two-Year-Old Filly
Albigna
Daahyeh
Quadrilateral
Raffle Prize
