Designs On Rome scooped the Hong Kong Horse of the Year award at a glittering ceremony held at the Grand Hyatt this evening (4 July). The HKG1 BMW Hong Kong Derby and G1 Audemars Piguet QEII Cup victor was also named Champion Middle-Distance Horse and secured 32% of the public vote to claim the Most Popular Horse title.

Trainer John Moore’s brilliant charge became only the third Hong Kong Derby winner to go on and win the APQEII Cup in the same season when he saw off stellar overseas competition to claim the 2000m showcase at the end of April. That win, by a neck from last year’s Horse of the Year Military Attack, earned Designs On Rome an international rating of 123 that places him equal sixth in the latest LONGINES World’s Best Racehorse Rankings.

Designs On Rome won two legs of the season’s Hong Kong Four-Year-Old Series. After running on strongly to finish second to his talented stablemate Able Friend in the first leg, the HKG1 Hong Kong Classic Mile, the Holy Roman Emperor gelding brushed aside that rival to win both the HKG1 Hong Kong Classic Cup (1800m) and the BMW Hong Kong Derby under Tommy Berry.

The Champion Awards, held in the Grand Hyatt’s Grand Ballroom and broadcast live via Hong Kong’s NowTV, marked a new format for the unveiling of Hong Kong’s end-of-season champions. In recent times the winners had been revealed at intervals throughout the duration of the season’s final race meeting.

The Caspar Fownes-trained Lucky Nine was crowed Champion Sprinter in recognition of his back-to-back wins in both the HKG1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize (1200m) and Singapore’s G1 KrisFlyer International Sprint (1200m).

The Champion Stayer title went to the Moore-trained Dominant, primarily due to his storming run in December’s G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Vase (2400m) that saw off the outstanding British mare The Fugue.

Gold-Fun, trained by Richard Gibson, was awarded the Champion Miler title thanks to a series of sterling efforts that included wins in the G2 Jockey Club Mile and the HKG1 Queen's Silver Jubilee Cup (1400m), as well as second place in the G1 LONGINES Hong Kong Mile.

Bullish Smart, a three-year-old Soldier Hollow gelding, was unveiled as the season’s Champion Griffin. The Tony Cruz-trained Hong Kong International Sale graduate has won three times and placed twice from five starts since his debut in March.

Divine Ten was recognised as the season’s Most Improved Horse. The Me Tsui-trained HKG3 Bauhinia Sprint Trophy (1000m) winner rose 59 points to the end campaign on a mark of 111.

Brazilian sensation Joao Moreira emerged as the people’s choice for Most Popular Jockey, accruing 43% of the vote from the enthusiastic Hong Kong racing fans.
The season’s Champion Trainer, Champion Jockey and Champion Apprentice awards will be presented at Sunday’s Sha Tin season finale.

The public also voted to decide the Most Admired Overseas Horse and that accolade went to Lord Kanaloa. The outstanding Japanese sprinter proved his greatness with a second consecutive victory in December’s LONGINES Hong Kong Sprint (1200m), a performance that saw him power five lengths clear of a world class field.

Pleasure Gains carried off the Hong Kong International Sale bonus to cap a fine season. Trainer Manfred Man saddled the Hong Kong International Sale graduate to four wins and a third place in the HKG2 Chairman’s Trophy (1600m).