Horse of the Year voting gets under way
Voting for the 2017 Horse of the Year starts this week.
A 17-member panel, consisting of journalists along with selected staff members of the promoting company Supreme Ventures Racing and Entertainment Limited, will wade through statistics in order to determine winners in the various categories.
Even though there are several other categories to be voted on by the select panel, the main focus is usually placed on selection of the Horse of the Year.
This year the choice is clear, as She’s A Maneater is a shoo-in for the award. The brilliant filly won nine races from as many starts last year, including the Triple Crown (1000 Guineas, Jamaica Derby and Jamaica St Leger), the Superstakes and the Diamond Mile. Her earnings for 2017 exceeded $20 million.
Although her major award will be Horse of the Year, She’s A Maneater should also lead in the following categories: best three-year-old middle-distance performer, best three-year-old stayer, three-year-old overall champion, champion local-bred, champion middle-distance performer, and champion stayer.
Bigdaddykool, who followed She’s A Maneater in both the Superstakes and Diamond Mile, should also follow her as the Horse of the Year first runner-up, after his Legal Light and Harry Jackson victories.
Retired American-bred Choo Choo Blue should easily win champion foreign-bred based on her Gold Cup win, as well as finishing the year with four wins and two second-place finishes from seven starts.
For champion sprinter, Chace The Great has the edge after his Caribbean Sprint Championship win.
Anthony Thomas is set to be crowned champion apprentice as well as most improved rider, while it should be an interesting race in the most improved trainer category involving Anthony Nunes (53 winners in 2016 for second place to 73 winners in 2017 for second place); Patrick Lynch (23 winners in 2016 for sixth place to 32 winners in 2017 for fifth place); and Johnny Wilmot (eight winners in 2016 for 29th place to 19 winners in 2017 for 13th place).
Voting closes Saturday, January 20, 2018.
