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White Moonstone Could Be a Cartier Racing Awards Gem
30/09/10

An illuminating victory for White Moonstone in the Group One Meon Valley Stud Fillies’ Mile at Ascot on Saturday, September 25, means the Godolphin filly now tops the current points standing for the coveted Cartier 2-Y-O Filly Award.

Saeed bin Suroor’s charge is now unbeaten in four starts, each time with Frankie Dettori in the saddle, having landed an Ascot maiden, the Group Three German-Thoroughbred.com Sweet Solera Stakes at Newmarket and the Group Two Keepmoat May Hill Stakes at Doncaster prior to her neck victory over the Aidan O’Brien-trained Together at the weekend.

Victory in the prestigious mile contest takes White Moonstone to 56 points, 16 ahead of O’Brien’s Group One Moyglare Stud Stakes heroine Misty For Me, while Laughing Lashes has 36 points and Together rises to 32.

The Cartier Racing Awards recognise excellence in horseracing and the awards are the sport’s equivalent of the Oscars. Split into eight categories for the year’s top horses, including the particularly coveted Cartier Horse Of The Year, the awards are determined by points earned in Pattern races combined, at the end of the season, with the opinions of a panel of racing journalists, as well as votes from readers of the Racing Post and The Daily Telegraph.

European horseracing’s most prestigious accolades will be presented for the 20th time on November 16, during a glittering ceremony before an invited audience in the ballroom of London’s Dorchester Hotel.

The Cartier Racing Awards were established in 1991 to recognise the achievements of racehorses in Europe. There is also the Cartier/Daily Telegraph Award Of Merit 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.

Rip Van Winkle
© racing-images.co.uk

Also on Saturday at Ascot, the O’Brien-trained Rip Van Winkle (104 points) attempted to clinch the mile Group One Queen Elizabeth II Stakes for the second year in succession but was foiled close home as Dettori produced Poet’s Voice with a withering last-to-first run to gain victory by a nose.

The four-year-old Rip Van Winkle is equal on points with Midday in the Cartier Older Horse Award category, which sees the great mare Goldikova and crack sprinter Starspangledbanner sharing pole position with 112 points.

Harbinger (80 points), the runaway King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes Sponsored by Betfair winner, had the form of his exciting Group One victory in late July boosted by the 11-length runner-up Cape Blanco’s impressive victory over Rip Van Winkle in the Group One Tattersalls Millions Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown on September 4. Harbinger cannot add to his points total, having been retired from racing through injury, but could still come into the reckoning for Cartier Awards glory through the opinions of a panel of racing journalists and votes from readers of the Racing Post and The Daily Telegraph in November.

Cape Blanco, who previously won the Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby, is now on 136 points and close to taking the lead in Cartier 3-Y-O Colt Award category away from Canford Cliffs (140) who missed the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot through injury.

Frankel annihilated the opposition when posting a 10-length victory in the Group Two Juddmonte Royal Lodge Stakes at Ascot on Saturday, but Henry Cecil’s charge, who is set to step up to Group One company in either the Dubai Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket on October 16 or Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster a week later, has some way to go to challenge the points leaders in the Cartier 2-Y-O Colt Award division.

Unbeaten Group One boylesports.com Vincent O’Brien National Stakes winner Pathfork and Group One Keeneland Phoenix Stakes victor Zoffany both have 48 points, while dual Group Two winner Approve is on 46.

Music Show
© racing-images.co.uk

Dual Oaks heroine Snow Fairy (118) currently remains clear of 1,000 Guineas and Poule d’Essai des Pouliches winner Special Duty (98), Group One Etihad Airways Falmouth Stakes winner Music Show (80), two-time Group One winner Lillie Langtry (72) and Prix de Diane victor Sarafina (72) in the Cartier 3-Y-O Filly Award standings.

Starspangledbanner (112) is still out in front in the race for the Cartier Sprinter Award thanks to his triumphs in the Group One Golden Jubilee Stakes and Darley July Cup, while Rite Of Passage’s (48) Group One Ascot Gold Cup success keeps him clear of Group One Irish Field St Leger winner Sans Frontieres (32), whose next start is due to come in the Group One Melbourne Cup in November.

In an open contest for the Cartier Horse Of The Year Award, Canford Cliffs is narrowly ahead on 140 points, courtesy of his wins in the Group One Abu Dhabi Irish 2,000 Guineas, St James’s Palace Stakes and Sussex Stakes. Cape Blanco (136) is next in the running, followed by Snow Fairy (118), the great miler Goldikova (112) and Starspangledbanner (112).

Harry Herbert, Cartier’s racing consultant, commented today: “Ascot provided us with fantastic sport last weekend and the performances of Frankel and White Moonstone were particularly exciting with next year’s Classics in mind.

“It was also great to see Frankie Dettori in such spectacular form at his spiritual home, riding four winners, including that exquisitely-timed victory aboard Poet’s Voice.

“The 2010 Cartier Racing Awards remain intriguingly open at this stage. Newmarket’s Cambridgeshire meeting and the Qatar Arc festival at Longchamp, both staged this weekend, will generate outstanding performances and thus provide further clues to the outcome of this year’s Cartier Racing Awards.”

CARTIER AWARDS 2010 LATEST POINTS STANDINGS
(up to and including September 26, 2010)

Cartier Three-Year-Old Colt
CANFORD CLIFFS 140
CAPE BLANCE 136
DICK TURPIN 104
LOPE DE VEGA 98
MAKFI 88

Cartier Three-Year-Old Filly
SNOW FAIRY 118
SPECIAL DUTY 98
MUSIC SHOW 80
SARAFINA 72
LILLIE LANGTRY 72

Cartier Older Horse
GOLDIKOVA 112
STARSPANGLEDBANNER 112
MIDDAY 104
RIP VAN WINKLE 104

Cartier Sprinter
STARSPANGLEDBANNER 112
EQUIANO 72
MARKAB 52
REGAL PARADE 40

Cartier Stayer
RITE OF PASSAGE 48
SANS FRONTIERES 32
AGE OF AQUARIUS 28
ILLUSTRIOUS BLUE 26

Cartier Two-Year-old Colt
PATHFORK 48
ZOFFANY 48
APPROVE 46

Cartier Two-Year-Old Filly
WHITE MOONSTONE 56
MISTY FOR ME 40
LAUGHING LASHES 36
TOGETHER 32

Cartier Horse Of The Year
CANFORD CLIFFS 140
CAPE BLANCO 136
SNOW FAIRY 118
STARSPANGLEDBANNER 112
GOLDIKOVA 112

Past winners at the Cartier Racing Awards