Silent Witness has repeated the success he enjoyed in the Hong Kong Jockey Club Champion Awards last season, winning three categories when the 2004/05 Awards were presented in a ceremony at the Ritz-Carlton tonight.

He was again crowned Horse of the Year, Champion Sprinter and was chosen as the Most Popular Horse of the Year by a record number of public voters.

There were 178,128 votes in total for the public voting of the Most Popular Horse and the Most Popular Jockey this year - much higher than ever.

The glitzy end-of-season ceremony that recognises excellence in Hong Kong racing chose 2004/05 winners in the categories as follows:

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*The Most Improved Horse Award is given to the horse with the greatest rating increase in the season. Green Treasure has increased 49 points, from 67 to 116, while Wealthy has his improvement of rating by 47 points, from 57 to 104. As Wealthy will run in the Race 10 at Sha Tin on June 26, it will be decided which one of them is the winner of this Award by the result on Sunday.

** The current leading contender for the HKIS bonus (one million HK$) is Hip Hip Hooray. However, his closet rival Great Achievement has entered for a Class Three race to be held next Wednesday night and will have a chance to catch up. Therefore the outcome will be decided by the result on June 29.

Number of votes for Most Popular Horse and Jockey set highest record

Total 178,128 votes were cast during the period from June 15 to June 23 by the public members for voting the Most Popular Horse and Jockey of the Year, which has set a new record much higher than the figures in any of the past six years.

The total number of votes and the three horses and jockeys with the highest number of votes are as follows:

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The 2004/05 season was very special in Hong Kong. In terms of quality it was the greatest ever.

Halfway through the season the Club received official confirmation of this when the World Thoroughbred Racehorse Rankings for 2004 announced another all-time high for Hong Kong racing with a record 23 locally trained horses rated 110 and above internationally.

Those rankings also pronounced Silent Witness as the world`s Top Ranked Turf Sprinter and the highest-rated Hong Kong horse in history with an international rating of 123. Later Silent Witness broke the North American and European records for consecutive wins �V 17 in all �V on the way to a second Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Sprint title and another clean sweep of the Champion Sprint Series.

A memorable finish to the Champions Mile saw Bullish Luck defeat Silent Witness by a short head. Bullish Luck won two Group Ones and one Group Two success over 1600m this term. This result also franked their status as the only two Hong Kong horses in the Top 50 World Ranked Horses of 2004. Both horses also performed with distinction by finishing third and fourth in the Group One Yasuda Kinen in Tokyo.

Vengeance Of Rain , trained by David Ferraris, was another horse that broke new ground when he became the first winner of the Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong Derby to claim the Audemars Piguet QEII Cup in the same season. He then made it a superb and unique hat trick with victory in the stayers` championship race, the Hong Kong Champions & Chater Cup.

A Special Achievement Award goes to Cape Of Good Hope , who created history this season by becoming the first Hong Kong-trained horse to win an International Group One race, namely the Australia Stakes at Moonee Valley.� He then became the first Hong Kong horse to win at the Royal Ascot Meeting when winning his second International Group One race overseas, the Golden Jubilee Stakes, last Saturday.

What a wonderful advertisement he has been for our sport throughout the world.

A small but selected group of Griffins contest the Champion Griffin Award, which highlights some horses who may be the stars of the future.

Champion Jockey and Champion Trainer - Douglas Whyte and Tony Cruz

Douglas Whyte becomes the Champion Jockey for the fifth consecutive season as well as the recipient of the Most Popular Jockey of the Year Award by a landslide margin, the second year in succession he has won it.

Tony Cruz regains the Champion Trainer title, which he won for the first time in the 1999/2000 season. He set two new records this season �V most winners in a season for a trainer, and most stake money for a stable.

Alex H W Lai will become the Champion Apprentice Jockey, who has 17 wins with seven wins more than his closest rival Jacky C K Tong.

The Champion Trainer, Jockey and Apprentice will be honoured after racing at Sha Tin on Sunday, June 29.

The Association of Hong Kong Racing Journalists supports the Champion Awards, with the Hong Kong Racehorse Owners Association as honorary advisor.