All The Equus Award winners for the 2023/2024 season (Picture: Wayne Marks)
The Equus Awards have come and gone and there was no controversy about the winners this year as every one of them was a largely expected result.
However, to avoid future controversy there should be clarification on the situation where the three-year-old restricted races do not count towards the distance awards points tables: does that mean winners of three-year-old Gr 1s who are not on the points table are ignored by the panelists in the discussion for the award? It seems in some instances they are, but in other instances they are not.
Last year there was much controversy when See It Again lost out on the Equus Middle Distance award despite having won the Gr 1 Splashout Cape Derby, the Gr 1 Daily News 2000 and finished second in both the Gr 1 Hollywoodbets Durban July and Gr 1 weight for age HKJC Champions Cup.
Those were three-year-old events but it was pointed out by pundits that he had in any case performed a few lengths better than the award recipient Winchester Mansion in the July as he had finished 0,25 lengths behind him on a massive 5,5kg terms worse than weight for age.
This year many considered the middle distance award to be a straight duel between Royal Victory and Green With Envy, the only two horses who had won two Gr 1s each over middle distances, although most of those expected Royal Victory to get it and he duly did deservedly win the award.
Like See It Again, Green With Envy had won both the Gr 1 Splashout Cape Derby and the Gr 1 Daily News 2000 and he also won the Gr 3 Schweppes Politician Stakes.
However, Royal Victory had made history by becoming the first out of province horse to win both of Johannesburg’s biggest races, the Gr 1 Betway Summer Cup and the Gr 1 weight for age Premier’s Champions Challenge, and in fact he was the first out of province horse to win the latter race.
Royal Victory and Green With Envy met in the July and at the weights it was Royal Victory who performed better. However, on paper the margin he performed better by was only a neck, so was pretty much negligible.
So how is it that Green With Envy was not even a nominee for the middle distance award?
The answer can probably be found in the following two criteria for the awards:
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.
However, the four distance-related categories (Champion Sprinter, Miler, Middle Distance, and Stayer) will EXCLUDE performances in Age-Group restricted races, and points for these categories will only accrue from races where all ages may participate.
Green With Envy did not make it on to the points table due to the latter criterium.
However, when it seemed last year that See It Again was not going to make it on to the points table (he eventually made it into fifth place courtesy of his July second and Gr 1 HKJC Champions Cup second) it was explained by an Equus Awards spokesman, “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. Charles Dickens in the Miler category, See It Again in the Middle-Distance category and Son of Raj may need such favour.”
This season, like Son Of Raj last season, the Gr 1 SA Derby winner Purple Pitcher did make it as a nominee for the Equus Stayers award, despite not being on the points table.
However, by doing so are the committee saying that Green With Envy’s two Gr 1 wins in races restricted to three-year-olds were not worthy of a nomination?
What makes that more absurd is that the Hollywoodbets Durban July winner Oriental Charm did make it as a nominee and Green With Envy had not only beaten him by 3,25 lengths in the Cape Derby, but on paper he performed better than him in the July too.
The blame for the Middle Distance blunder last year was put on the criterium that the public vote held a third of the weight for the award.
The public vote was removed this year, although it was not stated in the criteria this year why it was removed.
However, even with the public vote removed the winner of the country’s biggest handicap, The July, once again emerged ahead of the country’s stand out middle distance three-year-old in the middle distance category as Oriental Charm was at least a nominee.
Green With Envy’s performances over middle distances were so outstanding that they contributed to him being the Equus Champion Three-year-old.
As this article is only about nominees, it might be viewed as petty, but these are important awards and there needs to be clarification on how the criteria works: on one hand the proven best middle distance three-year-old in the land is not promoted by the committee into a position as nominee but the winner of the SA Derby, based on just that one run, is promoted as a nominee for the stayers award.
To avert future controversy this needs to be transparently clarified.
There is also the confusion about why some prominent points scorers were ignored as nominees.
For example, Cousin Casey was second on the points table in the Older Male category, but did not appear as a nominee. He had little chance of winning the award as he did not win a race, but making him a nominee would have acknowledged the great season he had with three Gr 1 seconds and two Gr 2 seconds. It would have also made the weight the points table carries and the weight the panel opinion carries a touch clearer.
