Champions Black Caviar and So You Think are set to battle it out for honours for the Victorian Racehorse of the Year.
In what is seen as a prelude to the Australian Champion Racehorse of the Year title, the high-profile four-year-olds headline a list of eight contenders in the state award.
The Victorian honour is voted on by members of the media and only takes into account performances on Victorian tracks in the racing season which commenced on August 1.
The winner will be announced, alongside the Scobie Breasley Medallist, at the Victorian Thoroughbred Racing Awards on August 14, a month before the Australian awards.
Both Black Caviar and So You Think raced six times in Victoria this season for four Group One victories each, with So You Think’s third in the Melbourne Cup the only defeat between them.
Black Caviar’s four Group One victories for trainer Peter Moody were the Patinack Farm Classic (1200m), Lightning Stakes (1000m), Newmarket Handicap (1200m) and William Reid Stakes (1200m).
So You Think, trained by Hall of Fame legend Bart Cummings, won the Underwood Stakes (1800m), Yalumba Stakes (2000m), Mackinnon Stakes (2000m) and a second Cox Plate (2040m).
Like Black Caviar two other contenders, French-trained Melbourne Cup winner Americain and boom two-year-old colt Sepoy, were unbeaten on Victorian tracks this season.
American won the Group Three Geelong Cup (2400m) at his only other appearance while Sepoy posted four wins including a clean sweep of the Blue Diamond Series, the first horse since Bel Esprit in 2002 to achieve the feat.
The remaining four contenders all had Group One success in Victoria this season with glamour Sydney mare More Joyous claiming the Toorak Handicap (1600m) and Futurity Stakes (1400m) double.
Grand veteran Zipping, a winner of the Group One Turnbull Stakes (2000m) and a record fourth consecutive Group Two Sandown Classic (2400m), is the elder statesman of the contenders at nine years of age.
VRC Oaks (2500m) winner Brazilian Pulse, placed in all seven Victorian starts this season, is the only three-year-old on the list and Group One Australian Cup (2000m) winner Shocking is the other nomination.
The eight contenders for the 2011 Victorian Racehorse of the Year are (statistics relate to performances on Victorian tracks during the 2010/11 season);
Americain – 2 starts, 2 wins (2 x G1), $3,925,000
Black Caviar – 6 starts, 6 wins (4 x G1), $2,126,000
Brazilian Pulse – 7 starts, 4 wins (1 x G1), 3 placings, $994,138
More Joyous – 3 starts, 2 wins (2 x G1), $624,000
Sepoy – 4 starts, 4 wins (1 x G1), $819,250
Shocking – 10 starts, 2 wins (1 x G1), 1 placing, $1,086,750
So You Think – 6 starts, 5 wins (4 x G1), 1 placing, $3,478,500
Zipping – 6 starts, 2 wins (1 x G1), 1 placing, $1,213,500
AAP TURF
