Anamoe crowned Victorian Racehorse of the Year
Reigning Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m) champion Anamoe (Street Boss) was crowned Victorian Racehorse of the Year and jockey Blake Shinn claimed his second Scobie Breasley Medal at the 2023 Victorian Racing Awards in Melbourne last night.
After returning to Victoria following a three-year riding stint in Hong Kong, Shinn capped a stellar 2022-23 season with a runaway win in the Scobie Breasley Medal – 18 years after first claiming the coveted prize as a young apprentice jockey.
The Scobie Breasley Medal recognises the rider who has excelled above all others with votes awarded on a 3-2-1 basis by Racing Victoria (RV) Stewards at each metropolitan meeting throughout the 12-month season which concluded on July 31, 2023.
Shinn polled an impressive 61 votes to take the prize ahead of 11-time winner Damien Oliver on 39 votes. Rounding out the top five were Damian Lane (36), five-time winner Craig Williams (33) and 2021 winner Jamie Kah (30).
It stamped a memorable season for Shinn with the 35-year-old also collecting his first Roy Higgins Medal as the winner of the Metropolitan Jockeys’ Premiership with 66 victories, including the Futurity Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) aboard Alligator Blood (All Too Hard).
“I’m very touched to win this award tonight,” Shinn said. “Scobie Breasley was a pioneer of the sport. For me, this is like the Brownlow, the Daly M medal. It’s the ultimate in Melbourne metropolitan racing. I’m very thrilled to be here, to receive this award.”
Recently retired Anamoe comfortably took home the title of Victorian Racehorse of the Year with 115 votes, secured from the voting panel comprising members of the racing media, Victoria’s race callers, and the chief handicapper. Rounding out the top five were Alligator Blood [43], Gold Trip (Outstrip) [40], In Secret (I Am Invincible) [26] and Mr Brightside (Bullbars) [12].
Trained by James Cummings for Godolphin, Anamoe created a lasting impression during the Victorian Spring Racing Carnival with a pair of elite-level wins in the Might and Power (Gr 1, 2000m) and the Cox Plate at Moonee Valley.
For the third consecutive year, the dominant Ciaron Maher and David Eustace stable secured the Fred Hoysted Medal, which recognises excellence in the training ranks – both on and off the track – and is decided by a committee of Victorian racing administrators and members of the media.
Maher and Eustace enjoyed another dominant season in Victoria which saw them train 266 winners statewide, including the Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) winner Gold Trip, and claim both the Victorian and Metropolitan Trainers’ Premierships.
Among their achievements was the rare feat of training the winner of Victoria’s two Group 1 races – the AJ Moir Stakes (Gr 1, 1000m) and Black Caviar Lightning (Gr 1, 1000m) with the recently retired filly Coolangatta (Written Tycoon)) – along with its longest race, the Brandt Grand Annual Steeplechase (5500m), with Rockstar Ronnie (Stowaway).
Former star jumps jockey Clayton Douglas took home the Colin Alderson Award, which recognises an emerging talent among Victoria’s training ranks who is aged 40 or under and has been licensed as a trainer for no more than seven seasons.
Only three years into his training career, Douglas has won widespread acclaim for his handling of star sprinter Giga Kick (Scissor Kick), one of 11 individual horses to grace the winner’s stall in Victoria for Douglas in a breakout 2022-23 season.
The Tommy Corrigan Medal, which recognises the stand-out jumps rider of the season as voted by RV Stewards, was won for the first time by New Zealand native Aaron Kuru.
In his third full season in Victoria, 32-year-old Kuru topped the premiership and celebrated major wins aboard Britannicus (Roman Emperor) in the 3YB FM Scotty Stewart Brierly Steeplechase (3450m) and Elvison (Elvstroem) in the Ecycle Two Rivers Steeplechase (3800m).
In other awards, another former Kiwi, Daniel Stackhouse, was presented with his maiden Victorian Jockeys’ Premiership and was voted by his peers as the VJA Most Valuable Jockey in the state last season.
Carleen Hefel was acknowledged for her maiden triumphs in the Victorian and Metropolitan Apprentices’ Premierships, while the person she overcame in her battle for those titles, Celine Gaudray, was voted the VJA Rising Star by her fellow riders.
For the first time, the Victorian Racing Awards also included RV’s Retrainer of the Year awards, recognising excellence in the retraining and rehoming of retired racehorses.
Myrniong-based Louise Abey was named the RV Acknowledged Retrainer of the Year from the network of more than 50 retrainers who are part of RV’s Off The Track program. She collected a prize of $5,000 with her award.
Anakie-based Jessica Cocks was named the RV Emerging Retrainer of the Year, an award which recognises a person that has been an acknowledged retrainer for less than three years. She collected a prize of $1,000 with her award.
The full list of awards presented at the 2023 Victorian Racing Awards were as follows:
Scobie Breasley Medal – Blake Shinn
Victorian Racehorse of the Year – Anamoe
Fred Hoysted Medal – Ciaron Maher and David Eustace
Colin Alderson Award – Clayton Douglas
Tommy Corrigan Medal – Aaron Kuru
VJA Most Valuable Jockey – Daniel Stackhouse
VJA Rising Star – Celine Gaudray
RV Acknowledged Retrainer of the Year – Louise Abey
RV Emerging Retrainer of the Year – Jessica Cocks
Metropolitan Jockeys’ Premiership (Roy Higgins Medal) – Blake Shinn (66 wins)
Victorian Jockeys’ Premiership – Daniel Stackhouse (127 wins)
Metropolitan Apprentices’ Premiership – Carleen Hefel (38 wins)
Victorian Apprentices’ Premiership – Carleen Hefel (85 wins)
Metropolitan Trainers’ Premiership – Ciaron Maher and David Eustace (97 wins)
Victorian Trainers’ Premiership – Ciaron Maher and David Eustace (266 wins)