Goldikova named Horse Of The Year Goldikova has been named Horse Of The Year at the 2010 Cartier Racing Awards. The exceptional racemare also received the Cartier Older Horse Award for the second year running. The awards were announced for the 20th year running before an invited audience of 350 at the Dorchester Hotel in Mayfair in London. The brilliant five-year-old enjoyed a stellar season as she won five Group/Grade One races, including a sensational and unprecedented third Breeders' Cup Mile at Churchill Downs on November 6th, for trainer Freddie Head, jockey Oliver Peslier and her sporting owner/breeders Alain and Gerard Wertheimer. Goldikova stays in training next year and could add to her record-breaking total of 12 Group/Grade One triumphs by a European-based horse. Her European victories this season came in the Prix d'Ispahan, Queen Anne Stakes, Prix Rothschild and Prix de la Foret, while her only defeat was a runner-up finish on very soft ground behind the talented Classic-winning three-year-old colt Makfi. Famous for an electric burst of speed that none of her rivals possesses, Goldikova is the first horse to receive the Cartier Older Horse Award more than once. In the outstanding Cartier Horse Of The Year category, Goldikova dominated over Investec Derby and Qatar Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe hero Workforce, triple Group One-winning miler Canford Cliffs, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes victor Harbinger, who had to retire after that race following an injury, and Twice Over, successful in the Coral-Eclipse Stakes and Emirates Airline Champion Stakes. Goldikova took the spoils in the Cartier Older Horse category from Harbinger, Twice Over, this season's triple Group One winner Midday and Juddmonte International Stakes winner Rip Van Winkle. Workforce received the Cartier Champion Three-Year-Old Colt Award in a tight photo-finish from Canford Cliffs, who was successful in the Abu Dhabi Irish 2,000 Guineas, St James's Palace Stakes and Sussex Stakes, with the other nominations being Cape Blanco, Makfi and Dick Turpin. Snow Fairy, who gained two Classics and won a Japanese Group One impressively on Sunday, landed the Cartier Champion Three-Year-Old Filly Award . Frankel maintained his unbeaten status with a brilliant victory in a hot renewal of the Group One Dubai Dewhurst Stakes and clearly gained the Cartier Two-Year-Old Colt Award. Dual Group One winner Misty For Me saw off strong rivalry to clinch the Cartier Champion Two-Year-Old Filly Award from Hooray, White Moonstone, Laughing Lashes and Memory. Australian horse Starspangledbanner gained the Champion Sprinter Award, while Rite Of Passage took the Champion Stayer Award, despite only one run on the Flat - winning the Ascot Gold Cup. Richard Hannon, who clinched a second British trainers' title at the end of a remarkable 2010 season, was voted this year's Cartier/Daily Telegraph Award of Merit winner. The award is for the person or persons who, in the opinion of the special 18-strong Cartier jury, has/have done most for European racing and/or breeding either over their lifetime or within the past 12 months. The highly-coveted horse awards were determined by points earned in Pattern races during 2010, combined with the opinions of a panel of British racing journalists headed by Brough Scott, plus votes from readers of the Racing Post and the Daily Telegraph.
