International sprint sensation Scenic Blast heads the list of six finalists for the 2008/09 Mittys Victorian Racehorse of the Year Award to be announced at the Victorian Thoroughbred Racing Awards on Sunday 9 August.
Trained in Perth by Daniel Morton, Scenic Blast has had an outstanding 2008/09 season on Victorian tracks winning three races including the Group 1 Coolmore Lightning Stakes and Group 1 Crown Newmarket Handicap at Flemington.
The champion four-year-old flew the flag for Australia at the recent Royal Ascot meeting in England, blitzing his foreign rivals in the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes. His next start will be in the Darley July Cup at Newmarket on Friday 10 July.
Like Scenic Blast, Maldivian and Niconero also won two Group 1 races on Victorian tracks for the season. Maldivian was a memorable all-the-way winner in both the Tatts Cox Plate and Sportingbet Orr Stakes while Niconero won his second Rokk Ebony Futurity Stakes before winning the Darley Australian Cup a week later at Flemington.
Finalists for the 2008/09 Victorian Horse of the Year are:
Maldivian – eight starts: two wins, two placings
• Won the Group 1 Tatts Cox Plate and Group 1 Sportingbet Orr Stakes
• Second in the Group 2 Memsie Stakes and third in the Group 1 Aveo Live Well J.J. Liston Stakes
Niconero – five starts: two wins
• Won the Group 1 Rokk Ebony Futurity Stakes and Group 1 Darley Australian Cup
Scenic Blast – five starts: three wins
• Won the Group 1 Coolmore Lightning Stakes, Group 1 Crown Newmarket Handicap and the Corps of Commissionaires Handicap
Theseo – five starts: two wins, two placings
• Won the Group 1 Crown Mackinnon Stakes and Group 2 Pure Blonde St George Stakes
• Second in the Group 1 Darley Australian Cup and third in Group 1 Sportingbet Orr Stakes.
Weekend Hussler – eight starts: three wins, one placing
• Won the Group 1 Rokk Ebony Underwood Stakes, Group 2 Memsie Stakes and Group 2 Makybe Diva Stakes
• Second in the Group 2 Aveo Live Well J.J. Liston Stakes
Whobegotyou – seven starts: three wins, three placings
• Won the Group 1 The Age Caulfield Guineas, Group 2 Badjar Ogilvy Stutt Stakes and Group 2 AAMI Vase
• Second in the Group 1 AAMI Victoria Derby, Group 3 H.D.F McNeil Stakes and Listed Melbourne Food and Wine Plate
Other awards to be presented on the night include:
• Scobie Breasley Medal presented by Tabcorp
• Fred Hoysted Medal presented by Parnell Dual Care Program
• Tommy Corrigan Medal presented by Thoroughbred Racing Productions
• Fineline Printing Metropolitan Jockey Award
• Mitchelton Wines Metropolitan Trainer Award
• Mittys Metropolitan Apprentice Award
• Radio Sport 927 Country Jockey Award
• Staging Connections Country Trainer Award
• Commotion Creative Country Apprentice Award
• Crown Towers Leading Jumps Jockey Award
Details of an exciting new award category, to be voted on by the public, will be released next Monday 6 July.
Tickets to the Victorian Thoroughbred Racing Awards, to be held at Palladium at Crown, are $160 per person and can be purchased by calling 1300 139 401 or by clicking
here.
Note - 2009 Victorian Racehorse of the Year Award Criteria: Horses must have started at least four times on Victorian racetracks between 1 August 2008 and 31 July 2009. Horses are judged on performances on Victorian racetracks (including performances on metropolitan and country tracks). There is no restriction on where the horse is trained (i.e. metropolitan, country, interstate or overseas).