This year’s Equus Awards, to be announced at a function at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on 15 August, will effectively be decided solely by the opinion of an expert panel.
Quid Pro Quo – can’t miss in the champion 2yo filly category (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
The Equus Awards website states, “The final list of nominees for each award will be derived from the final points standings amongst the relevant categories. The panel of judges will then use the tables derived from the points system as a guide when making their final decision. There will no longer be a public vote.”
The change likely happened due to the furore over the Equus Middle Distance award last year. See It Again had won the Gr1 Splashout Cape Derby, the Gr1 Daily News 2000 and he was a 0,25 length second to Winchester Mansion in the Hollywoodbets Durban July on terms 5,5kg worse than weight for age.
Yet the public obviously blindly voted for the July winner and another problem was that the points system excludes age-group events. This year a similar situation has arisen.
Green With Envy is not in the first five on the Middle Distance log because the Gr1 Splashout Cape Derby and Gr1 Daily News 2000 wins are age-group events and he did not accumulate any points for winning them.
The nominees are usually the first five in each category.
However, controversy will likely be averted by a rule that allows discretion to be used by the Equus Committee.
“The Equus Committee has the option, however, once the final season points tables are concluded, to include certain horses in distance categories despite their low(er) points tallies, if the committee is of the opinion that doing so is justified.”
Retired speed star Thunderstruck – tops the champions sprinter log (Pic – JC Photos)
Green With Envy is likely to be a nominee and is likely to fight out the Middle Distance award with the log leader Royal Victory.
Royal Victory won two open Gr1 races, one of which was a weight for age event.
He won the Gr1 Betway Summer Cup over 2000m and although he carried joint bottom weight of 54kg he was the second best performed runner in that race behind Puerto Manzano, whom he received 6kg from and beat by 4,60 lengths.
He then won the Gr1 weight for age Premier’s Champions Challenge over 2000m.
He also finished third in the Gr 1 Hollywoodbets Durban July over 2200m.
Green With Envy had won the Gr 3 Schweppes Politician Stakes before his wins in the Cape Derby and Daily News 2000.
The pair only met once, in the Hollywoodbets Durban July, and although Royal Victory finished third and Green With Envy only seventh their respective performances were virtually identical on paper. Royal Victory was 1kg better off than weight for age with Green With Envy and beat him by 1,20 lengths.
That means Royal Victory performed 0,02kg better than Green With Envy, a negligible amount.
It will be a tough one for the expert panel to decide.
The panel consists of Graeme Hawkins (chair), Deez Dayanand, Vicky Minott, Nico Kritsiotis and Rouvaun Smit.
There has not been an Equus Awards press release about the final points standings for the equine section of the Equus Awards, but a quick calculation shows Dave The King to have moved past his stablemate Gimme A Nother into the top spot for the Equus Horse Of The Year category.
Dave The King – out of the blue and in running for SA Horse Of The Year (Pic – Chase Liebenberg)
Dave The King was not even in the top five in the standings when the points standings were last released on July 10.
However, the Gr1 HKJC Champions Cup he won on the last weekend of the season is regarded as a “Super Grade 1” and the 48 points he earned took him from 72 points to 120 points, surpassing Gimme A Nother’s 104 points.
His win did not change anything in the Equus Middle Distance award which is comfortably led by Royal Victory on 90 points.
However, Dave The King would have moved into the lead in the Champion Older male category ahead of Royal Victory and Thunderstruck.
Dave The King is on top of the Champion Miler category too.
Thunderstruck stays on top of the Champion Sprinter category thanks to Lucky Lad’s failure to win the Gr 1 Mercury Sprint. Lucky Lad got 20 points for second in the Mercury Sprint but that left him eight points shy of his stablemate.
Proceed stays on top of the log in the Champion Two-year-old male category thanks to a filly, VJ’s Angel, winning the Gr 1 World Pool Moment Of The Day Champion Stakes.
The new darling of the SA Turf, Quid Pro Quo, is way clear on top of the Equus Two-year-old filly category.
No three-year-olds performed well enough on World Pool Gold Cup day to threaten Green With Envy’s and Gimme A Nother’s positions on top of the Equus Three-year-old Male and Equus Three-year-old filly categories respectively.
Likewise, Princess Calla was not ousted from her position on top of the Champion Older Female category.
In the stayers category Master Redoute would have joined Red Maple on top on 18 points.
