After bouncing back to his best, former Singapore champion three-year-old Stepitup deservedly won the Singapore Horse of the Year title at the 2015 Singapore Racing Awards night at The Regent Hotel on Thursday night. The evening was hosted by South African Gareth Pepper.
STC Chairman Mr Lim Joo Boon celebrates with Stepitup’s trainer Laurie Laxon and owner Susanna Goh of Tivic Stable
The diminutive six-year-old son of Hussonet had a quiet season in 2014 but enjoyed a new lease of life the following year when he chalked up a remarkable record of six wins from 12 starts, five of them in feature races, including two at Group 1 level, the first two Legs of the Singapore Triple Crown series, the Panasonic Kranji Mile (1600m) and the Raffles Cup (1800m).
The Laurie Laxon-trained and Tivic Stable-owned gelding was not at his only accolade of the night as he was also voted the Champion Older Horse, while in the younger age groups, the three victors were Super One, Affleck and War Affair in the two-year-old, three-year-old and four-year-old categories respectively.
With his unbeaten record of four from four as a two-year-old, the Michael Freedman-trained Super One was the undisputed winner among the juveniles, especially as the son of I Am Invincible had swept both two-year-old features, the Group 2 Aushorse Golden Horseshoe (1200m) and the Group 3 Juvenile Championship (1200m).
Stepitup
Laxon’s Affleck backed up on his previous two-year-old title by being crowned 3YO kingpin, mainly thanks to his clean sweep of the More Magic 3YO Championship series and winning the final Leg of the Singapore Three-Year-Old Challenge, the Group 1 Singapore Guineas (1600m).
The previous Singapore Horse of the Year War Affair showed he was still a major force to reckon with when he clinched the Champion 4YO award, courtesy of his two Leg-wins in the Singapore Four-Year-Old Challenge, the Group 2 Stewards’ Cup (1400m) and the Group 1 Patron’s Bowl (1600m), the latter win also helping him land the Champion Miler title for the second year running.
In the other distance categories, the Stephen Gray-trained Emperor Max, who was again second and the first local in the Group 1 KrisFlyer International Sprint (1200m) scooped up the Champion Sprinter award while the Patrick Shaw-trained Emirates Singapore Derby (2000m) winner Quechua made it back-to-back for the Champion Stayer trophy.
Boasting an outstanding record of six wins on the Polytrack, the Lucky Stable-owned My Lucky Strike was rewarded with the Champion Polytrack Horse title. With a rating that leapt from 61 to 98 points in the space of one year, the Mark Walker-owned sprinter was also voted the Most Improved Horse.
A five-time champion trainer back in his native New Zealand, Walker himself won his first Champion Trainer title in Singapore while the other premierships went to Manoel Nunes (second consecutive Champion Jockey title), Shafiq Rizuan (second Champion Apprentice Jockey title after 2011), the Avengers Stable (Leading Owner by stakes won) and the Oscar Racing Stable (Leading Owner by number of wins).
The Racing Media Awards were this year won by Australian racing journalist and tipster Larry Foley in the English section and Moo Beng Yew in the Chinese section while the Social Media Horse of the Year is the Theo Kieser-trained Super Winner.
The complete list of winners is as follows:
Champion Two-Year-Old SUPER ONE
Champion Three-Year-Old AFFLECK
Champion Four-Year-Old WAR AFFAIR
Champion Older Horse STEPITUP
Champion Sprinter EMPEROR MAX
Champion Miler WAR AFFAIR
Champion Stayer QUECHUA
Champion Polytrack Horse MY LUCKY STRIKE
Most Improved Horse MY LUCKY STRIKE
Racing Media Award (English) LARRY FOLEY
Racing Media Award (Chinese) MOO BENG YEW
Social Media Horse of the Year SUPER WINNER
Champion Trainer MARK WALKER
Champion Jockey MANOEL NUNES
Champion Apprentice Jockey SHAFIQ RIZUAN
Leading Owner by number of wins OSCAR RACING STABLE
Leading Owner by stakes won AVENGERS STABLE
Horse of the Year STEPITUP
