Dwayne Dunn lands first Scobie Breasley medal

Dwayne Dunn has put aside the disappointment of being beaten in the Melbourne jockeys’ premiership to claim his first Scobie Breasley Medal.

Established in 1996 and named after the Hall of Fame jockey, the Scobie Breasley Medal acknowledges riding excellence at Melbourne metropolitan meetings with votes given on a 3-2-1 basis by Racing Victoria stewards.

Dunn polled 63 votes on Thursday night to lead home four-time winner Craig Williams by five with Damien Oliver, who has won nine times, in third place with 46.

Williams won the jockeys’ premiership by four from Dunn.

The medal victory for Dunn ended a run of near misses after second placings behind Luke Nolen (2012), Michael Rodd (2013) and Damien Oliver (2015).

“I get used to being the bridesmaid,” Dunn said.

Dunn said a jockeys’ premiership last season would have been a nice touch after his son Dylan won the apprentices’ title but it wasn’t to be.

John Allen won the Tommy Corrigan Medal, the jumps jockeys award, polling 15 votes to defeat eight-time winner Steven Pateman by four.

Record-breaking trainer Darren Weir collected the Fred Hoysted Medal for the most outstanding training performance producing Prince Of Penzance to win the Melbourne Cup.

Daniel Bowman and Mitchell Freedman, who each spent time with Weir before branching out on their own, shared the honours in the inaugural Colin Alderson Rising Star Award for trainers 40 years and younger.

On the equine side, champion sprinter Chautauqua was named Victorian Racehorse of the Year.

Chautauqua showed his sprinting prowess winning the Manikato Stakes at Moonee Valley in the spring and the Lightning Stakes at Flemington in the autumn.

The Hawkes Racing-trained sprinter polled 107 votes to lead home Cox Plate winner Winx (101 votes) and Melbourne Cup winner Prince Of Penzance (27).