See It Again does not appear on the Equus Awards points table for the Champion Middle Distance Horse award, but he is still the likely favourite to win the award (Candiese Lenferna Photography).
Potential controversy in the Equus distance categories awards will be averted by a ruling that allows the Equus Committee some use of discretion.
The Equus Awards have a rule that age specific events do not count towards the distance category awards points tables.
There is also a clause saying “Only horses included in the final points log will be voted on by the expert panel and public.”
The first of the above rulings means See It Again does not appear on the Equus Champion Middle Distance Horse Award points table, despite having won the Gr 1 Splashout Cape Derby, the Gr 1 Daily News 2000 and finishing a narrow second in the Gr 1 Hollywoodbets Durban July.
The second of the aforementioned rulings, left without an escape clause, would have meant the expert and public voters would not have been allowed, as things stand, to even vote for See It Again to be Equus Champion Middle Distance Horse.
However, massive controversy in the case of the Champion Middle Distance Horse award will be averted by another ruling made by the Equus committee.
Equus Committee Chairman Colin Gordon explained, “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.”
See It Again can actually still get on to the Middle Distance points table by winning the HKJC World Pool Champions Cup.
In both his and Charles Dickens’ case they should just need to be eligible for the expert and public vote to win the Champion Middle Distance and Champion Miler awards respectively.
The awards are decided by three facets with equal weighting, the points table, the expert vote and the public vote.
However, in the voting polls See It Again and Charles Dickens should win the aforementioned respective distance categories by landslides and that should pull them past those horses who are above them on the points table.
This is in no way meant to disrespect the respective points table leaders in those categories, Puerto Manzano and Trip Of Fortune.
See It Again settled any argument by finishing 5,95 lengths ahead of Puerto Manzano in the July, despite facing him on terms half-a-kilogram worse than weight for age.
Charles Dickens mastered Trip Of Fortune in the Gr 1 Hollywoodbets Gold Challenge and although he is 1-1 with Puerto Manzano in Gr 1 wfa miles, his brilliant win in the sire-producing Gr 1 Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas and his easy win in the Gr 2 WSB Guineas will surely swing voting his way.
Gordon explained the reason for age restricted races being excluded from points accumulation.
He said, “Without this exclusion, and by way of example, the winner of the Grade 1 SA Derby would in almost all years be the top points earner in the Staying category despite having never run in or won an all-age staying race. The same could be true for any three-year-old winning all three Guineas, or the Cape Derby and Daily News 2000, whilst avoiding competition against older horses, or worse, doing so and failing. Im told this exclusion was hotly debated by the Committee at the time of the original conception of the points series and it was agreed that three-year-old horses gained an (unfair) advantage when running exclusively against their own age group in distance categories while their older counterparts were expected to take on all comers in all-age races and were precluded from accumulating points in the age-restricted races.”
