Kevin Sommerville was on stage to receive numerous awards on behalf of Gaynor Rupert’s Drakenstein Stud, including for Champion Breeders and Champion Owners. (Picture: Wayne Marks).
A couple of weeks ago there was one controversial Equus Award and a couple of closely fought ones which some questioned.
However, in all cases bar one the Cape Breeders awards on Friday night saw the losing protagonist at the Equus Awards gaining redemption.
The only close fought award the Equus and Cape Breeders awards agreed upon was Princess Calla being named Horse Of The Year. This was at the probable expense of Charles Dickens on both occasions.
Charles Dickens did walk away with four awards on the night though, being champion three-year-old in both the racing awards and breeders awards, champion miler in the racing awards (there is no champion miler award in the breeders awards) and he was the racing awards Horse Of The Year.
See It Again was expected to win the Equus Middle Distance Champion award, which controversially went to Hollywoodbets Durban July winner Winchester Mansion. However, good sense prevailed in the Cape Breeders awards in this category when See It Again ousted Jet Dark, Winchester Mansion and Charles Dickens.
Make It Snappy was the only dual Gr 1-winning three-year-old filly last season and beat four older Gr 1 winners when winning the Cartier Paddock Stakes, so most were surprised when Bless My Stars won this category at the Equus Awards. A valid case can be made for Bless My Stars, but Make It Snappy ousted her and None Other in this category in the Cape Breeders awards.
Gimme A Prince was unlucky to go home empty-handed from the Equus awards. However, the panel for the Cape Breeders awards preferred this dual Gr 1 winner’s overall form compared to Equus Award winner Isivunguvungu in the Champion Sprinter category.
They also preferred Gimme A Prince as Champion Older Male, being a dual Gr 1 winner and Gr 2 winner, and he ousted much travelled Equus award winner in this category Trip Of Fortune (One Gr 1 win, two Gr 2’s and a Gr 3) as well as Jet Dark and Winchester Mansion.
The Equus Awards often put a lot of emphais on the clashes between two protagonists when making their decisions, but the Cape Breeders panel rather looked at the overall achievements in the two-year-old male category, which saw Lucky Lad ousting Equus award winner Sandringham Summit, despite their only Gr 1 clash going the way of the latter.
In the two-year-old fillies award, the only Gr 1 winner among the nominations, Bavarian Beauty, was snubbed at the expense of Winter Cloud, but this was not unexpected because she finished a good second to the runaway Equus Award winner in this category, Mrs Geriatrix, in the Gr 1 Allan Robertson Sprint, while Bavarian Beauty’s win in the Gr 1 Douglas Whyte Stakes was without Mrs Geriatrix in the field.
All of the other awards went as expected.
See below for the full list of winners in both the Racing and Breeders awards.
CAPE RACING AWARDS:
Winners are highlighted in BOLD.
- JUVENILE MALE
– My Golly Molly
– Outlaw King
– Underworld
- JUVENILE FEMALE
– Beach Bomb
– Distant Winter
– October Morn
– Winter Cloud
– Rascova
- 3YO COLT
– Charles Dickens
– Cousin Casey
- 3YO FILLY
– Ciao Bella
– Make It Snappy
– Golden Hostess
- OLDER MALE
– Al Muthana
– Gimme A Prince
– Jet Dark
– Trip Of Fortune
– Winchester Mansion
- OLDER FEMALE
– Going Up
– Kwinta’s Light
– Marina
- CHAMPION SPRINTER
– Bereave
– Gimme A Prince
– Rio Querari
- CHAMPION MILER
– Al Muthana
– Charles Dickens
– Trip Of Fortune
- CHAMPION MIDDLE DISTANCE
– Jet Dark
– Winchester Mansion
- CHAMPION STAYER
– Baratheon
– Crome Yellow
– Navy Strength
– Salvator Mundi
– Thefutureisbright
- WORK RIDER
Mr S H Feni
- CHAMPION APPRENTICE
Mr J M Solomons
- CHAMPION JOCKEY
Richard Fourie
- CHAMPION TRAINER
Justin Snaith
- OWNER OF THE YEAR
Drakenstein Stud (Nom: Mrs G A Rupert)
- HORSE OF THE YEAR
– Charles Dickens
– Gimme a Prince
CAPE BREEDERS AWARDS 2022-23
| Award | Horse | Breeder |
| Champion 2 Year Old Colt | ||
| Lucky Lad | Varsfontein | |
| Outlaw King | GJ Armitage | |
| Sandringham Summit | Varsfontein | |
| Champion 2 Year Old Filly | ||
| Bavarian Beauty | Maine Chance Farms | |
| Cala Muretta | Varsfontein | |
| Distant Winter | Drakenstein Stud | |
| Winter Cloud | Drakenstein Stud | |
| Champion 3 Year Old Colt | ||
| Anfields Rocket | Klawervlei | |
| Charles Dickens | Drakenstein Stud | |
| See It Again | Drakenstein Stud | |
| Son Of Raj | S. Chetty | |
| Champion 3 Year Old Filly | ||
| Bless My Stars | Varsfontein | |
| Make It Snappy | Ridgemont Highlands | |
| None Other | Wilgerbosdrift & Mauritzfontein | |
| Champion Older Male | ||
| Gimme A Prince | Khaya Stables | |
| Jet Dark | Drakenstein | |
| Trip Of Fortune | Drakenstein | |
| Winchester Mansion | Drakenstein | |
| Champion Older Female | ||
| Desert Miracle | Wilgerbosdrift & Mauritzfontein | |
| Princess Calla | Maine Chance Farms | |
| Rain In Holland | Drakenstein | |
| Champion Sprinter | ||
| Gimme A Prince | Khaya Stables | |
| Isivunguvungu | Narrow Creek Stud | |
| Princess Calla | Maine Chance Farms | |
| Stayer of the Year | ||
| Future Pearl | Drakenstein | |
| Nebraas | Al Adiyaat | |
| Salvator Mundi | Varsfontein | |
| Son Of Raj | S. Chetty | |
| Champion Middle Distance | ||
| Charles Dickens | Drakenstein | |
| Jet Dark | Drakenstein | |
| See It Again | Drakenstein | |
| Winchester Mansion | Drakenstein | |
| Broodmare of the Year | ||
| Demanding Lady | Drakenstein | |
| Freudiana | S. Chetty | |
| Imperial State | Varsfontein | |
| Imvula | Drakenstein | |
| Sea Point | Drakenstein | |
| Townsend | Varsfontein | |
| Outstanding Breeder | ||
| Drakenstein | ||
| Stallion of the Year | ||
| Gimmethegreenlight | ||
| Trippi | ||
| Outstanding New Stallion | ||
| Danon Platina | ||
| Fire Away | ||
| Lancaster Bomber | ||
| Breeder Of The Year | ||
| Drakenstein | ||
| Horse Of The Year | ||
| Princess Calla | ||
| Special Achievement Award | ||
| Trippi | ||
