Lankan Rupee Named Australian Horse of the Year

By a vote of 145 to 121, champion sprinter Lankan Rupee (Aus) (Redoute’s Choice {Aus}) outpointed Fiorente (Ire) (Monsun {Ger}) to earn honors as Australian Horse of the Year Thursday evening. Owned by Teeley Assets Ltd., the gelding won seven of his eight starts in the 2013-2014 season, capped by outstanding victories in the G1 Oakleigh Plate, the G1 Newmarket H. and the G1 T. J. Smith S. Trained by Mick Price, Lankan Rupee became the sixth sprinter in the last eight years to be named Horse of the Year, with Black Caviar (Aus) (Bel Esprit {Aus}) having earned the honor in the three years prior. Fiorente, who provided his legendary trainer Gai Waterhouse her first victory in the “Race that Stops a Nation,” was named champion stayer, while It’s A Dundeel (NZ) (High Chaparral {Ire}) was the champion middle-distance horse. Shamus Award (Aus) (Snitzel {Aus}) became the first 3-year-old in history to complete the G1 Cox Plate/G1 Australian Guineas and was a comfortable winner of top 3-year-old honors. Sheikh Mohammed’s Guelph (Aus) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}) ran the table in the sprint, defeating her fellow 3-year-old fillies in the G1 Flight S. and G1 Schweppes Thousand Guineas and was named best of her generation, while her younger stablemate Earthquake (Aus) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}) won four of her five trips to the post, including the G1 Blue Diamond S., and was named champion juvenile. In the human categories, Chris Waller was the recipient of the Bart Cummings Trophy as the champion Group 1 trainer and Nash Rawiller was the champion Group 1 jockey.