New Zealand Racing, 2015-16

[my miss storm cat]

"Storming the Tower... oh he's too good! He did all the donkey work and he gets the money!"

That was awesome!!!!!!!

Was so happy to see your piece on his win today. God I love him.

[_ed_]

Argh, three horses put down in the jumping races at Ellerslie today. Jockeys coming back without their horses and crying. I can't handle this.

[my miss storm cat]

Originally Posted by _ed_

Argh, three horses put down in the jumping races at Ellerslie today. Jockeys coming back without their horses and crying. I can't handle this.

Desperately sorry to hear this. It's heartbreaking and I cannot imagine being there and having to cover it. Just very sorry for all involved and I hope the three horses were released from pain quickly

[_ed_]

We needed to have some great racing today to help us recover from Monday, and we've got it. Lovely 2yo performances by Elusive State and Sophia Magia, and how good was Underthemoonlight?

Loving the racing in Brisbane today too. It's been amazing so far. Although that performance from VSB was too bad to be true. Hope he's okay.

[_ed_]

So proud of Benzini and Sacred Elixir! That was a sensational win by Sacred Elixir in particular.

[_ed_]

Oh my gosh, and Provocative too! So, so proud. My love of racing has been restored.

[my miss storm cat]

Originally Posted by _ed_

Oh my gosh, and Provocative too! So, so proud. My love of racing has been restored.

I'm glad!

Back from Hawaii, it was frigging AWESOME and moved my Adriatic cruise (leaving from Venice and across the Adriatic to Rovinj, Split and Dubrovnik (Croatia), Bay of Kotor (Montenegro), and then down and around through Sicily and Italy (strait of Messina,Giardini Naxos, Capri, etc) and back up on the other side of Italy again then flying back to Croatia (Zagreb) and might head up to Ljubljana (Slovenia)... moved England to later in the year so be back by the Fall or Spring there. I am taking my extended break from horsies but will check when back and hope there are nice updates on Iamishwara etc. Honestly the one day I did decide to look at horsie stuff I saw that Align had died and just thought oh... I am happier spending the summer not reading any of it at all.

I will be back to my addiction in a couple of months, my friend, so continued good luck and affection to you.

[_ed_]

Here are the results for this year's awards.

I'll put my votes in bold. Last year the results were almost exactly the same as how I voted, but this year was a bit different.

Horse of the Year: Mongolian Khan 20; Turn Me Loose 19; Xtravagant 6; Kawi 2; Rangipo 2.

Champion Two-Year-Old: Sacred Elixir 26; Heroic Valour 19; Luna Rossa 2; Xiong Feng 1.

Champion Three-Year-Old: Xtravagant 34; Rangipo 13; Sofia Rosa 3; Tavago 1.

Champion Sprinter: Turn Me Loose 28; Xtravagant 21; Ryan Mark 1.

Champion Middle Distance Horse: Turn Me Loose 33; Kawi 16; Volkstok'n'barrell 1.

Champion Stayer: Mongolian Khan 50.

Champion Jumper: Jack Romanov 18; Sea King 18; High Forty 10; Wee Biskit 5.

Dunstan Trainer of the Year: Stephen Autridge & Jamie Richards 18; Murray Baker & Andrew Forsman 17; Tony Pike 13.

FastTrackinsurance Jockey of the Year: Lisa Allpress 37; Opie Bosson 3; Matthew Cameron 2.

FastTrackinsurance Jumps Jockey of the Year: Shaun Fannin 44.

FastTrackinsurance Owner of the Year: JML Bloodstock 30; Raffles Dancers 16; NZ Thoroughbred Holdings 2; Kelvin Tyler 1.

Media Award: Dennis Ryan 16; Mark McNamara 13; Steve Davis 12; Michael Holland 8.