2010 EQUUS AWARDS WINNERS
Friday, August 13, 2010 at 06:37AM 
Mick Goss celebrates with fellow 2010 Equus Champions
(Photo : JC Photographics)
THE EQUUS AWARDS
Season 2009 - 2010
South African horseracing’s Equus Awards for the 2009-2010 season were presented by Racing South Africa at a plush black-tie function at Emperors Palace last night and the coveted “Horse of the Year” title went to the Millenium Stud-bred son of Dynasty, Irish Flame, who is owned by Larry Nestadt, Bernard Kantor, Gary Barber and Percy von Molendorff and trained by Mike de Kock.
Nicci Garner writes that Irish Flame was a revelation during the 2009-10 racing season. He started his career with Dean Kannemeyer in the Cape and won three of his first four starts, including the Politician Stakes.
After running a disappointing race behind Bravura in the Investec Cape Derby, original owner Percy von Molendorff sold a majority share in him to Larry Nestadt, Bernard Kantor and Gary Barber and he was transferred to the Highveld yard of champion trainer Mike de Kock in March.
Irish Flame then proceeded to set the world alight and some two months after his arrival in Johannesburg landed his first Grade 1 win when trouncing Triple Crown contender Pierre Jourdan in the SA Derby. He went on to win both the Grade 1 Daily News 2000 and Gold Circle Derby (Grade 2).
He then very nearly won the country’s premier race, the Vodacom Durban July, but giving 0.5kg was thwarted by a length by his top-class stable companion Bold Silvano.
Little wonder then, that the Equus Awards panel not only voted him “Horse of the Year” but his owners received two other awards for their star runner - Champion Three-Year-Old Colt / Gelding and Champion Stayer.
Bold Silvano’s connections, Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum and Gill Thomson, were not left out of the Equus Award celebrations because their Silvano colt was voted Champion Middle-Distance Horse.
The Mike de Kock stable dominated the awards, taking home nine trophies. De Kock took the Champion Trainer award after his runners earned a record R22.2 million in stakes and he also trains the champion two-year-old and three-year-old fillies for last season in Mahbooba and Here To Win respectively as well as the champion older filly or mare, Mother Russia.
Irish Flame, Bold Silvano, Here To Win and Mahbooba are en-route to Dubai and Mike de Kock has big plans for them in the desert.
In addition, Lizard’s Desire’s breeder, Albert Boshoff, received a the Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association’s International Achievement Award.
De Kock, of course, handled Lizard’s Desire’s overseas campaign and the Lizard Island gelding, who is still fighting off life-threatening laminitis, finished a close second in both the Dubai World Cup and the QEII Cup in Hong Kong before winning the Singapore Airlines International Cup.
Many experts believed that lightning-fast J J The Jet Plane had done enough in winning two G1 races - the Golden Horse Casino Sprint and the Mercury Sprint - to win the Horse Of The Year title. While they will be disappointed the country’s highest-ranked horse did not get the award, they can take comfort in the two trophies the Jet Master gelding’s connections did receive. He was named Champion Sprinter and Champion Older Male.
JJ The Jet Plane was bred by Pat Devine and is owned by Hennie du Preez, Coenie Strydom, Thea Boyens and his trainer, Lucky Houdalakis.
Summerhill Stud secured the Champion Breeder Award for the sixth consecutive year and newly crowned South African record holder, Hear The Drums, won the Equus Award for Outstanding Achievement.
The awards were decided by a panel chaired by Phumelela’s Betting Executive Vee Moodley. The voting panel comprised Phumelela Horseracing Executive Patrick Davis, Gold Circle Chief Operating Officer Graeme Hawkins, Phumelela Marketing and Communications Manager Robert Garner, Tellytrack head Nico Kritsiotis, Form Organisation’s Jehan Malherbe, KZN commentator Sheldon Peters and the National Horseracing Authority’s chief handicapper Roger Smith.
EQUUS AWARDS WINNERS
12 August 2010
| Winner | Owner/s | Trainer | Breeding | Breeder |
| Champion Two Year Old Filly | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mahbooba (AUS) | Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Maktoum | Mike de Kock | Galileo-Sogha | Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Maktoum |
| Champion Two Year Old Colt / Gelding | ||||
| Link Man | Larry Nestadt, Greg Blank and and G Z Burg | Dennis Drier | Toreador-Western Smoke | Tawny Syndicate (Nom: Mr L M Nestadt) |
| Champion Three Year Old Filly | ||||
| Here To Win (BRZ) | Messrs B E Lobben and M Myhre | Mike de Kock | Roi Normand-Ascot Belle | Haras Santa Ana Do Rio Grande |
| Champion Three Year Old Colt / Gelding | ||||
| Irish Flame | Larry Nestadt, Bernard Kantor, Gary Barber, Percy von Molendorff | Mike de Kock | Dynasty-Clock The Rock | Millennium Stud |
| Champion Older Filly / Mare | ||||
| Mother Russia | Wilgerbosdrift (Nom: Mrs M Slack) | Mike de Kock | Windrush-Russian Muse | Normandy Stud |
| Champion Older Colt / Gelding | ||||
| JJ The Jet Plane | Hennie du Preez, Coenie Strydom, Lucky Houdalakis and Thea Boyens | Lucky Houdalakis | Jet Master-Majestic Guest | Mrs P J Devine |
| Champion Sprinter | ||||
| JJ The Jet Plane | Hennie du Preez, Coenie Strydom, Lucky Houdalakis and Thea Boyens | Lucky Houdalakis | Jet Master-Majestic Guest | Mrs P J Devine |
| Champion Middle-Distance Horse | ||||
| Bold Silvano | Sheikh Mohammed Bin Khalifa Al Maktoum and Gill Thomson | Mike de Kock | Silvano-Bold Saffron | Ascot Stud |
| Champion Stayer | ||||
| Irish Flame | Larry Nestadt, Bernard Kantor, Gary Barber, Percy von Molendorff | Mike de Kock | Dynasty-Clock The Rock | Millennium Stud |
| Equus Outstanding Achievement Award | ||||
| Hear The Drums | Peter Fabricius | Des McLachlan | Gold Press-Winning Glory | Summerhill Stud |
| Champion Stallion Award | ||||
| Jet Master | Stands at Klipdrift Stud | Rakeen-Jet Lightning | Mr A H Jonsson | |
| Outstnding Stallion Achievement Award | ||||
| Dynasty | Stands at Highlands | Fort Wood-Blakes Affair | Wilgerbosdrift | |
| Broodmare Of The Year | ||||
| Stormsvlei | From(Zandvliet Stud/Out Of Africa Stud) | Prince Florimund-Distant Echoes | Mr E W Miller | |
| Breeder Of The Year | ||||
| Ascot Stud / Normandy Stud | ||||
| Breeder Award For Exceptional International Achievement | ||||
| AJ Boshoff (Lizard’s Desire) | Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum | Mike de Kock | Lizard Island-Annsfield | Mr A J Boshoff |
| Champion Breeder | ||||
| Summerhill Stud | ||||
| Work Riders Of The Year | ||||
| John Nel / Andile Ndongo | ||||
| Apprentice Of The Year | ||||
| Aldo Domeyer | ||||
| Champion Jockey | ||||
| Anton Marcus | ||||
| Champion Trainer | ||||
| Mike de Kock | ||||
| Owner Of The Year | ||||
| Ingrid and Markus Jooste | ||||
| Horse Of The Year | ||||
| Irish Flame | Larry Nestadt, Bernard Kantor, Gary Barber, Percy von Molendorff | Mike de Kock | Dynasty-Clock The Rock | Millennium Stud |
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