Only One Potentially Contentious Equus Award

The Equus Awards panel look to have a relatively easy task of choosing the award winners this year as almost all winners look to have selected themselves, although there will be one award that will likely be contentious and one or two others that will draw some debate.

The most contentious award will be the Champion Older Male award with the three contenders being Gladatorian, Gimme A Prince and The Real Prince. Last year’s Equus Horse Of The Year Dave The King repeated his win in the Gr 1 wfa Hollywoodbets Gold Challenge, but he can be eliminated as a winner of this award by Gladatorian’s performances against him, i.e. a loss by 0,35 lengths in the Gold Challenge and a win by 2,95 lengths in the Gr 1 wfa HKJC Champions Cup over 1800m and Dave The King is also eliminated by The Real Prince because the latter won the Hollywoodbets Durban July and then beat Dave The King in the Champions Cup. The Real Prince looks likely to be eliminated by Gladatorian because at level weights in the Gr 2 IOS Drill Hall Stakes and the Champions Cup, Gladatorian emerged the victor on both occasions by 1,35 lengths and 0,40 lengths respectively, whereas Gladatorian was giving The Real Prince 3,5kg when defeated five lengths by The Real Prince in the July, a performance by Gladatorian which was actually only 0,75kg inferior to the winner’s over the 2200m trip. So Gladatorian two victories to one over The Real Prince should eliminate the latter. That leaves Gladatorian and Gimme A Prince. Both have a Gr 1 wfa win and a Gr 2 win and both have an additional third in a Gr 1 wfa mile among other stakes-placed performances. It is difficult to compare two horses running over different distances, but it has to be said that Gimme A Prince’s 5,75 length obliteration of the opposition in the Gr 1 wfa HKJC World Pool Cape Flying Championship was probably the performance of the season. He ran a blistering time of 56,76 seconds, 0,30 seconds outside the course record, and it was recognised as a top performance by the handicappers, who awarded him a 134 rating, making him the highest rated horse in the country. So that peformance gives Gimme A Prince the edge, but on the other hand mile to middle distance performances are often preferred to sprint performances when awards are made and some would argue that the sprint division is a bit weak at present in South Africa.

Another award which could cause some contention would be the three-year-old Champion colt award, because One Stripe beat Eight On Eighteen on both of the occasions they met, but both of those races, in the Gr 2 Cape Punters Cup and the Gr 1 Hollywodbets Cape Guineas respectively, were over a mile and they never met over a trip which is better suited to Eight On Eighteen, i.e. 2000m and above. The progressive Eight On Eighteen later became only the fourth three-year-old since Feltos in 1945 to win the Gr 1 wfa WSB Met over 2000m and he came within 0,25 lengths of becoming the only three-year-old in history to win both the Met and the Hollywoodbets Durban July in the same season. He was comfortably the best performed horse in the July as he had to give the year older The Real Prince 0,5kg, meaning he was 2,5kg worse off than weight for age with him, and he was beaten only 0,25 lengths. Eight On Eighteen also won the Gr 1 Splashout Cape Derby over 2000m and the Gr 1 Daily News 2000. An argument in favour of One Stripe is he is rated 132 to Eight On Eighteen’s 129. The debate would also affect the Equus Horse Of The Year award, but most would expect Eight On Eighteen to be named both Champion Three-year-old male and Equus Horse Of The Year.

The Champion two-year-old award looks straight forward as Golden Palm won the Gr 1 Douglas Whyte Stakes in impressive style having also won Johannesburg’s biggest two-year-old event, the Gr 2 SA Fillies Nursery. Her stablemate Anotherdanceforme beat Golden Palm when they met on debut, but a Gr 2 win was her highest level win, whereas another stablemate, Direct Hit, won a Gr 1 and a Gr 3 as opposed to the Gr 1 and Gr 2 wins of Golden Palm.

Jan van Goyen looks favourite for the two-year-old colt/gelding award as he won the Gr 1 World Pool Moment Of The Day Champion Stakes by an impressive 3,70 lengths on Sunday as opposed to Good For You’s blanket finish win in the Gr 1 Gold Medallion over 1200m.

The other award winners choose themselves.

The below are the predicted Equus Award winners.

CHAMPION 2YO FILLY

CHAMPION 2YO COLT

CHAMPION 3YO FILLY

CHAMPION 3YO COLT

CHAMPION OLDER FILLY/MARE

CHAMPION OLDER MALE

CHAMPION SPRINTER

CHAMPION MILER

CHAMPION MIDDLE DISTANCE (1800-2200m)

CHAMPION BROODMARE

CHAMPION STALLION

Horse Of The Year

Eight On Eighteen (Lancaster Bomber)