Futura received uproarious applause when deservedly named Equus Horse Of The Year for the 2014/2015 season at a glittering ceremony held in the Emperor’s Palace Convention Centre in Johannesburg last night.
Captain Of All – Nkosi Hlophe
The brilliant Dynasty colt was trained by Brett Crawford to win both the Gr 1 L’Ormarin’s Queen’s Plate and the Gr 1 J&B Met and by Justin Snaith to win the Gr 1 Champions Cup. He was owned in the first two events by Jack Mitchell, John Freeman and Ian Longmore. Longmore then sold his share to Drakenstein Stud, a happening which led to the horse changing yards.
Futura also won the Champion Older Male and Champion Middle Distance award. Last Friday evening he won the equivalent of these three titles at the Western Cape Racing Association Award ceremony held at the Lanzerac Hotel in Cape Town.
French Navy (Nkosi Hlophe)
Three of the most eagerly awaited Equus Awards were that of Champion Sprinter, Champion Stayer and Champion Three-year-old Male and in the end all three required a vote by the tie-breaking panellist Larry Weinstein. Captain Of All was crowned Champion Sprinter on the likely grounds that his 1200m wins in the Gr 1 Tsogo Sun Sprint and Gr 1 Mercury Sprint were superior combined performances when compared to the Mike de Kock-trained Alboran Sea’s wins in the Gr 1 Cape Flying Championship and Gr 1 Computaform Sprint. Alboran Sea defeated Captain Of All in both of the latter events, there only clashes of the season, but Captain Of All was invincible over his preferred trip of 1200m and ended the season on a merit rating of 126, the joint second highest rating in South African history.
Legislate (Liesl King)
Alboran Sea had consolation in that she was named the Champion three-year-old filly of a vintage crop, which included the like of Majmu, Same Jurisdiction and Siren’s Call.
Champion Stayer was awarded to the De Kock-trained Gr 1 eLan Property Group Gold Cup winner Wild One at the expense of the Gr 1 SA Derby winner Legal Eagle. The Gold Cup winner is usually awarded this title due to the race being the country’s premier staying event and it also being a true test of stamina.
The Champion Three-year-old Male award went to dual Gr 1-winner French Navy at the expense of the luckless Legal Eagle, although Sean Tarry trained both of them so he was still full of smiles.
Alboran Sea (Nkosi Hlophe)
Tarry later received a huge ovation when officially accepting the award for National Champion Trainer, having finished second on three occasions in the past and in the top ten for the previous ten seasons.
Gavin Lerena was admired for his true grit in winning his first National Champion Jockey title and also received loud applause.
The Two-Year-Old Awards expectedly went to the Drier-trained colt Seventh Plain and the De Kock-trained filly Entisaar respectively.
Seventh Plain (Nkosi Hlophe)
The Champion Older filly/mare category was not strongly contested this year, as the contestants generally had to play second fiddle to the three-year-olds. However, the Mike Bass-trained mare Hammie’s Hooker, who won both a Gr 2 and a Gr 3 during the season, because in previous seasons she was the perennial bridesmaid to the brilliant Beach Beauty.
The Champion Miler award raised one or two eyebrows as Futura lost out to his current stablemate Legislate, but a close look at their performances vindicates the decision. Legislate broke the Kenilworth Old Course record when beating Futura in the Gr 2 Lanzerac Le general Green Point Stakes over 1600m and was then clearly not himself when defeated by Futura in the Gr 1 L’Ormarin’s Queen’s Plate. In KZN he exacted revenge when beating Futura in the Gr1 Rising Sun Gold Challenge.
2015 Equus Award winners:
CHAMPION 2YO COLT
Seventh Plain
CHAMPION 2YO FILLY
Entisaar (AUS)
CHAMPION 3YO COLT
French Navy
CHAMPION 3YO FILLY
Alboran Sea (AUS)
CHAMPION OLDER MALE
Futura
CHAMPION OLDER FILLY/MARE
Hammie’s Hooker
CHAMPION SPRINTER (1000-1200m)
Captain Of All
CHAMPION MILER (1400-1600m)
Legislate
CHAMPION MIDDLE DISTANCE HORSE (1800-2200m)
Futura
CHAMPION STAYER (2400m upwards)
Wild One
SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Piere Strydom
CHAMPION STALLION
Captain Al
CHAMPION BROODMARE
Si Senorita
CHAMPION BREEDER
Klawervlei Stud
OUTSTANDING STALLION ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Dynasty
OUTSTANDING BREEDER AWARD
Highlands Farm Stud
MEDIA AWARDS
Print – Michael Clower
Television – Kevin Harris
APPRENTICE OF THE YEAR
Craig Zackey
CHAMPION JOCKEY
Gavin Lerena
CHAMPION TRAINER
Sean Tarry
OWNER OF THE YEAR
Mrs I & Mr M J Jooste
HORSE OF THE YEAR
Futura
By David Thiselton
