October
AugustA hundred yards? Hardly
Richard Callander (22/8) and Steve Moran agree that there is a "100-yard" winner of the Australian Horse of the Year award for 2008/09. They only differ on the horse’s identity — Theseo for Callander, Maldivian for Moran.
Even allowing for the tabloid hyperbole that is both men’s stock in trade, these statements are preposterous.
There is no standout for 2008/09, and legitimate claims can be made for a handful of horses, including — but not limited to — Theseo and Maldivian.
A rule of thumb in the past has been: "When in doubt, give it to the Cox Plate winner." That’s how Might And Power won in 1998/99 even though, because of injury, he won only one other Group 1 that season (the Yalumba).
But surely the quality of the Cox Plate win must be a factor, and if Maldivian wins based on his Cox Plate win then really Michael Rodd should be named horse of the year because it was the ride more than the gallop that won the race.
Callander argues that Theseo gets the nod (by half a furlong, apparently) because he won three Group 1s to Maldivian’s two, won a Group 2 and ran several Group 1 placings.
Sorry, Richie, but Group 2s and minor placings don’t decide the horse of the year. Nor does sheer weight of Group 1 wins — if it did, Theseo would dead-heat with Niconero.
Theseo won the Epsom, Mackinnon and Ranvet. Niconero won the Kingston Town Classic, Futurity and Australian Cup. Of those six races, only one can be considered a genuine "major", and therefore a significant factor in this award: the Australian Cup.
Scenic Blast, whose award for Victorian Horse of the Year was scoffed at by Moran, has claims on the national title that are just as strong as Theseo’s and Maldivian’s.
He was clearly Australia’s leading sprinter last season, winning one Group 1 at weight-for-age and taking a genuine "major", the Newmarket, with top weight.
The argument that a horse needs to be versatile to be horse of the year acts against Scenic Blast, but would also have disqualified past winners Vain, Manikato and Placid Ark.
Scenic Blast is no Vain or Manikato, but Theseo and Maldivian aren’t exactly Might And Power or Sunline either.
Anyway, Theseo’s Group 1 wins came at 1600m and 2000m, Maldivian’s at 1400m and 2040m, so it’s not as if they’ve beaten all comers at all distances.
Scenic Blast’s claims to be named horse of the year probably rest on his impressive victory over Europe’s best in the King’s Stand Stakes. Should overseas performances count in deciding the champion of Australian racing? Strictly speaking, no. But I believe the criteria for this award allow the judges to take the King’s Stand win into account.
Regardless, no candidate this year is a lay-down misere so perhaps Moran and Callander should just sit back on the night and enjoy the uncertainty.
Cremorne (Vic)