Imperatriz crowned Horse of the Year

Girl power reigned supreme at the 2024 New Zealand Thoroughbred Horse of the Year awards in Hamilton on Sunday.

Champion Matamata mare Imperatriz, as expected, was named Horse of the Year and all five flat racing categories were won by female gallopers.

Imperatriz also took the sprinter-miler category, top filly Orchestral was named as both the champion three-year-old and champion stayer, Velocious earned the two-year-old title and Legarto topped the voting in the middle-distance category.

The only male horse to triumph was West Coast, who is the jumper of the year.

It is the first time this century that fillies and mares have been so dominant.

Imperatriz’s trainers, Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson, were voted trainer of the year and Waikato couple Denise Bassett and John Elstob , who had a quarter share in Imperatriz, topped an eclectic group of finalists for owner of the year.

Elstob and Bassett have been significant investors in Te Akau Racing syndicates and had 45 individual runners during the season. While Imperatriz was their main flagbearer, they were also part-owners of a second Group I winner, in Move To Strike, and the Group II winners Captured By Love and Ascend The Throne.

The husband and wife training partnership of Peter and Dawn Williams, who retired from training in June, were rewarded for decades of excellence with the award for an outstanding contribution to racing.

Peter began his training career in 1975 and Dawn, who went on to become the first woman to train 1000 winners in New Zealand, joined the partnership in the early 1980s.

They were based in Canterbury for the bulk of their careers but moved north, to Byerley Park, in 2011. They never had a large team but were rarely without a galloper of note.

The 1988 Auckland Cup winner Sea Swift was their first major winner and was followed by top sprinter Loader, who completed the Railway-Telegraph double in 1996.

More recent winners at the top level included the classic-winning fillies Planet Rock and Media Sensation, dual Group I winner Shuka and their latest star, Desert Lightning, who made his trainers’ final season a memorable one.

Imperatriz made an irrefutable case to be named Horse of the Year with an almost perfect Australian campaign, which produced six wins, including five at Group I level, and two placings, from eight attempts.

The now-retired mare was the most prolific Group I winner in Australasia, with Mr Brightside the next best, with four, while no other New Zealand-trained horse managed more than two elite wins.

New Zealand-trained horses have usually struggled to match the best Australian sprinters but all of Imperatriz’s six wins came at 1200m or less. She will be at short odds to be named sprinter of the year in Australia and will also be a contender for the Australian Horse of the Year, which will be announced in October.

The I Am Invincible mare, who cost A$360,000 as a yearling, earned $6.7 million in stakes in the 2023-24 season, taking her career earnings to $7.5 million. She had a career record of 19 wins from 27 starts, including 10 Group I wins, and only once finished further back than fourth.

She was ranked among the best race-mares in the world and added to the returns for her ownership syndicate when sold as a broodmare prospect, for A$6.6 million, in May. It was an Australasian record price for a broodmare.

The now six-year-old was bought by Yulong, an international thoroughbred racing and breeding operation, and will be based in Australia. She will be mated with the Yulong stallion Pierata this spring.

Imperatriz’s impact in her final season was further illustrated when she was announced as the recipient of the award for outstanding global achievement, which usually recognises the efforts of the human participants.

Imperatriz dominated the Horse of the Year voting receiving 41 of the 51 votes cast, with New Zealand Derby winner Orchestral the runner-up.

Orchestral was never going to threaten Imperatriz’s hold on the main prize but had a similar profile to Sharp ‘N’ Smart - the 2023 Derby winner and Horse of the Year - and gained all bar two of the votes in the three-year-old section

Warren Kennedy was named Jockey of the Year, after just his second season in New Zealand. The former South African premiership winner made the brave decision to move to New Zealand in his 40s and has been quick to make an impact.

Kennedy, 44, topped the national premiership in 23-24 and was also the leading rider in terms of domestic stake earnings and black type wins. His season included a memorable day at Pukekohe, on January 1, when he rode seven winners at one of the biggest meetings of the year.