Vengeance Of Rain - Horse of the Year - #1 Horse Racing Forum in Australia for Race-Horse News

Vengeance Of Rain crowned Horse of the Year

Hong Kong Jockey Club

The Hong Kong Jockey Club Champion Awards presentation ceremony was held on Monday at the season-end "HKSAR 10th Anniversary Raceday and Vengeance Of Rain was crowned Horse of the Year as well as the Champion Stayer and Most Popular Horse of the Year.

Trainer Caspar Fownes and Jockey Douglas Whyte were honoured as the Champion Trainer and Champion Jockey respectively.

Never before had such a difficult task faced the Champions Awards Judging Panel in electing a Horse of the Year. It boiled down to a choice between Vengeance Of Rain and Viva Pataca who won four Gr.1 races between them, one apiece at international Gr.1 level.

Vengeance Of Rain won the Hong Kong Gold Cup (from Viva Pataca) and the Dubai Sheema Classic, the joint-richest race in the world on turf, in March. The latter accomplishment, his sixth Gr.1 success, came from a top class international field and propelled him into the all-time top ten of stakes earners worldwide.

The 2006/07 Champion Awards winners in the categories as follows:

Hong Kong Jockey Club Champion Awards (2006/2007)[/b]
Award	Winner	Owner	Trainer
Horse of the Year	Vengeance Of Rain	Raymond Gianco Chow Hon Man & the Executors of the Estate of the late Chow Nam	David Ferraris
Champion Sprinter	Absolute Champion	Mr & Mrs Eddie Wong Ming Chak	David Hall
Champion Miler	Armada	Wong Yuk Lun	John Size
Champion Middle Distance	Viva Pataca	Stanley Ho Hung Sun	John Moore
Champion Stayer	Vengeance Of Rain	Raymond Gianco Chow Hon Man & the Executors of the Estate of the late Chow Nam	David Ferraris
Champion Griffin	Joy And Fun	Mr & Mrs Johnny Wong Chun Nam	Derek Cruz
Most Improved Horse	Medic Power	Medipal Syndicate	Paul O'Sullivan
2005 Hong Kong International Sale Bonus Winner	Noble Conqueror	Zen Win Syndicate	Caspar Fownes
Lifetime Achievement Award	Silent Witness	Arthur Antonio da Silva, Betty da Silva, Antonio Marcus da Silva & Teresa Marieda Silva	Anthony S Cruz
Champion Trainer	Caspar Fownes (61 wins)
Champion Jockey	Douglas Whyte (91 wins)
Champion Apprentice Jockey	Terry Wong (29 wins)

The Panel also decided to present the Lifetime Achievement Award to Silent Witness, Horse of the Year in 2003/04 and 2004/05, in recognition of his great contribution to Hong Kong racing. Silent Witness achieved 17 consecutive race successes, including the two triumphs in the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Sprint, two clean sweeps of the Champion Sprint Series and a victory in the Sprinters Stakes. Time Magazine voted him as one of the "people" who mattered most in the world in 2004.

Regarding the Most Popular Horse and Most Popular Jockey of the Year, a total of 236,502 votes have been received in this year's voting and the Hong Kong Jockey Club greatly appreciated the response from the public. Vengeance Of Rain was voted as the Most Popular Horse of the Year (52,962 votes) while Brett Prebble became the Most Popular Jockey of the Year (52,425votes). The total number of votes and the three horses and jockeys with the highest number of votes were as follows:

Most Popular Horse of the Year	Most Popular Jockey of the Year
1. Vengeance Of Rain	52,962votes	1. Brett Prebble	52,425votes
2. Viva Pataca	32,775votes	2. Douglas Whyte	39,671votes
3. Medic Power	11,676votes	3. Howard Cheng	7,696votes
Total votes	118,476	Total votes	118,026
Total votes: 236,502

A total of 14 Awards were presented at Sha Tin today thanks to the assistance of the Association of Hong Kong Racing Journalists and the Hong Kong Racehorse Owners Association as honorary advisors.

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