Equus Awards Committee chairperson Natalie Turner has released a statement on behalf of the Equus Committee.

I congratulate the following Equus Award Winners for the 2020/2021 season;

Equus Champion Owner – Suzette Viljoen
Equus Champion Trainer – Justin Snaith
Equus Champion Jockey – Lyle Hewitson
Equus Champion Apprentice – Kyle Strydom
The nominees for the Equine categories will be announced shortly and I take this opportunity to wish all nominees the very best for the evening of the 17th August.

The Equus Committee comprises representatives from the three operators, Cape Racing, Gold Circle and Phumelela as well as The Racing Association and The Thoroughbred Breeders Association who fund and manage the annual Equus Awards. The committee has been consistent with regards to its policy on the criteria used to determine the human awards announced above. The Champion Owner and Trainer are determined by total stakes excluding restricted races. The Champion Jockey and Apprentice are determined by their total number of wins.
It is unfortunate, that as a result of an oversight in 2019, the Equus Champion Owner was awarded based on statistics including restricted races. The Racing Association has advised the NHRA who maintain statistical data for Southern Africa and Zimbabwe horseracing, that the Equus Champion Owner is based on total stakes excluding restricted races and they have requested that the NHRA consider aligning themselves with this criterion.
I’m pleased to announce that going forward, the committee has supported the introduction of an Equus Awards website and social media campaign that will run throughout the year. Criteria for each of the categories are published on the website as well as details on the judging panel for the current year. Once our nominees for 2021 have been confirmed, these will be published on the website and the virtual awards will be available at www.equusawards.co.za throughout the year.
The 2021 virtual Equus Awards will be broadcast on Tellytrack, Channel 249 on Tuesday 17th August at 20h00.
We look forward to honouring our champions, both human and equine for the 2020/2021 season.