Star-studded nominations unveiled for Horse of the Year Awards

The finalists for the flat-racing categories in the 2022-23 New Zealand Thoroughbred Horse of the Year Awards were announced this week, and the remarkable depth and quality among the nominations means the 60-odd voting panel will have their work cut out in determining the winners.
No fewer than 14 individual Group One winners have been nominated for awards. In campaigns that would have made them clear standouts in many other seasons, four horses were two-time winners at the elite level, while both Sharp ’N’ Smart and Imperatriz completed Group One trebles spanning both sides of the Tasman.
A particularly strong category is Champion Three-Year-Old, whose nominations are Legarto, Pennyweka, Pier, Prowess and Sharp ’N’ Smart. Between them, those five horses collected no fewer than 10 Group One wins during the season – four of them in Australia.
Sharp ’N’ Smart was the first to get on the board, taking out the Spring Champion Stakes in Sydney in late October. A week later he ran second in the Victoria Derby at Flemington, then returned to top form in the summer months back in New Zealand with triumphs in the Herbie Dyke Stakes and New Zealand Derby. His exceptional season came to an end in Sydney with a gallant fourth on an unsuitable heavy track in the Australian Derby.
Pier was a standout of domestic three-year-old racing in the spring, winning the Gr. 2 Hawke’s Bay Guineas on his way to victory in the Gr. 1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas on November 5.
He was followed a week later by Legarto, who romped home by almost five lengths in the New Zealand 1000 Guineas. Her New Zealand successes also included the Gr. 2 Eight Carat Classic and Gr. 3 Soliloquy Stakes, and she capped her season with a breath-taking performance in the Australian Guineas. She was the first New Zealand-trained winner of the prestigious Flemington feature.
Prowess was defeated by Legarto and Pier in her first two attempts at black-type level in the spring, but she stepped out of their shadow in style with an unbeaten sequence of five wins from New Year’s Day onwards. After a comfortable victory in the Gr. 2 Auckland Guineas, she added the Karaka Million 3YO Classic, the Gr. 2 David & Karyn Ellis Fillies’ Classic, the Gr. 1 Bonecrusher New Zealand Stakes against older horses at weight-for-age, and Sydney’s Gr. 1 Vinery Stud Stakes.
Completing this top-class group of finalists is Pennyweka, who rose to stardom with an autumn classic double in the New Zealand Oaks at Trentham and the Australian equivalent at Randwick. She became only the third filly to win both races, following on from Domino (1990) and Bonneval (2017).
Sharp ’N’ Smart, Legarto, Prowess and Pennyweka’s feats are unique in New Zealand racing history. There has been no other season since the Group racing pattern was introduced in 1970 that four New Zealand-trained three-year-olds have won Group One races in Australia. There have been only two instances of three horses doing so – in 1989-90 (Domino, Diego and Rough Habit) and in 2016-17 (Bonneval, Gingernuts and Jon Snow).
This season’s outstanding crop of three-year-olds also feature alongside older opposition in the various distance categories. Legarto is short-listed for Champion Sprinter, where she is joined by fellow Group One-winning finalists He’s A Doozy, Imperatriz, La Crique, Levante and Prise De Fer.
Prowess and Sharp ’N’ Smart feature in the middle-distance category alongside older weight-for-age winners Defibrillate and Mustang Valley. Sharp ’N’ Smart and Pennyweka are also in contention for Champion Stayer honours, up against Aquacade, Dionysus and Platinum Invador.
In the Champion Two-Year-Old category, Karaka Million-winning star Tokyo Tycoon is joined by Group One-winning fillies Pignan and Ulanova, plus Group Two performers Zourion and Trobriand.
While opinions will be wide and varied as to category winners, what is already guaranteed is a new winner of the Horse of the Year title, with the most recent dual Probabeel now retired. Her former stablemate Imperatriz has strong claims to continue dominance of the supreme award by horses trained by Te Akau Racing, which began with Melody Belle’s back-to-back wins in 2017-18 and 2018-19, followed by Probabeel in the next two years.
Imperatriz won six of her nine starts during the season, including the Gr. 1 Railway Stakes and BCD Group Sprint at Te Rapa, followed by a two-start autumn campaign in Australia that produced a second to Artorius in the Gr. 1 Canterbury Stakes and victory in the Gr. 1 William Reid Stakes at Moonee Valley.
The remaining category nominations, including Champion Jumper, owner, trainer and jockey, are still to be finalised.
The Horse of the Year Awards winners will be announced during a dinner at Shed 10 on Auckland’s Queen’s Wharf on Sunday September 10, with tickets available for purchase at www.nztr.co.nz/awards