Horse of the Year 2023 decision today
THE decision of the 15-member Horse of the Year voting panel will be made public today at a press conference to be held at Caymanas Park. This panel includes journalists and selected staff members of the promoting company Supreme Ventures Racing and Entertainment Limited (SVREL).
This year, the choice for Horse of the Year should easily go to the Oakridge Farm-owned and Gary Subratie-trained Atomica, the reigning Horse of the Year. The brilliant mare won five races from seven starts last year, including the Jamaica Cup over 9½ furlongs (1,900m) — a race she won the previous year in record time.
Atomica’s earnings for 2023 exceeded $6.3 million. Although her major award will be the Horse of the Year, Atomica should also lead in the following categories: best four-year-old middle-distance performer, best four-year-old stayer, four-year-old overall champion, champion local-bred, champion middle-distance performer, and champion stayer.
Also in consideration for Horse of the Year honours is the American-bred runner Rough Entry. The Rohan Crichton trainee had only one start for the 2023 racing year, and that was in the ultra-rich US$150,000 Mouttet Mile which he won easily by seven lengths. He topped the earners for last year with $12.5 million.
Rough Entry should also be in the running for champion foreign-bred, along with Runaway Algo who won five races from 14 starts last year.
Runaway Algo earned $4,874,000 for the 2023 racing season.
Emperorofthecats should walk away with the honour of champion sprinter.
It should be an interesting race in the most-improved trainer category, comprising Steven Todd (21 winners in 2022 for ninth place to 26 winners in 2023 for seventh place); Alford Brown (16 winners in 2022 for 10th place to 18 winners in 2023 for 10th place); and Carl Anderson (15 winners in 2022 for 12th place to 21 winners in 2023 for ninth place). Jason DaCosta is the champion trainer.
For the most-improved riders, champion Reyan Lewis, Tevin Foster, and Raddesh Roman headline that category. Lewis won 48 races in 2022 for fourth place to 99 winners in 2023 to finish first; Foster won 57 races in 2022 for third place to 89 in 2023 winners to finish second; and Roman won 17 races in 2022 for 18th place to 50 winners in 2023 for third place.