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Timeform's Champions Of 2013/14

25th Jun 2014

Timeform's assessment of the latest racing season in Australia.

Champion Two-Year-Old

For the first time this century no two-year-old was able to break through the 120-barrier. Mossfun Horseform, Earthquake Horseform and Rubick Horseform all falling a pound short at 119.

Earthquake brought her Blue Diamond-winning form north and it proved good enough to see off Mossfun in the Reisling but Mossfun was able to turn the tables when conditions went her way come the Golden Slipper.

With Mossfun and Earthquake both successful at the top level Rubick looks the odd man out at the top of the pile but his debut performance was that of a very smart performer with shattered stopwatches and the subsequent form of the beaten brigade pointing strongly to that assessment.

Champion Three-Year-Old

Despite being well down on the two strong crops that preceded it the class of 2013/14 did manage to snaffle a Cox Plate through Shamus Award Horseform.

Shamus Award returned a rating of 124 when winning the Moonee Valley showpiece but unfortunately, despite winning the Australian Guineas in the autumn, he was unable to replicate that figure.

It remained the best piece of form put up by a three-year-old in the latest season though, with the group losing several of its most promising talents over the summer.

The first two past the post in the Caulfield Guineas were shipped overseas and the first two in the VRC Derby suffered injury which left features in the back half of the year slightly below average.

Zoustar Horseform was the pick of the sprinters but with a rating of 122p he still had something to prove heading into the autumn. Alas, he was seen just once when well off his best finishing down the field in the Canterbury Stakes.

The top filly, Guelph Horseform, was at her best winning the Guineas in the spring but was another that failed to make a mark in second half of the season.

The five (a ludicrous number) Group 1 races for staying fillies went the way of five different winners, all fairly evenly matched on bare form.

Champion Sprinter

After showing himself as good as ever winning the VRC Classic at Flemington Buffering Horseform looked to have a good grip on the sprinting division but just a week later a new beast emerged that would ultimately leave him having to settle for minor honours once again.

Lankan Rupee Horseform had always been a good talent (he was rated 113 after just three starts) but the removal of a couple of valuable assets has seemingly been the making of him.

His spring campaign ended with a dominant display at Caulfield that made all sit up and take notice, dismissing of ten stakes-winning sprinters in hot time and a shade cosily.

He went right on with the job when he returned for the autumn, running out a well above-average winner of the Rubiton, Oakleigh Plate, Newmarket and TJ Smith, and finished the season not just as Champion Sprinter but as Australia’s Champion Racehorse, and with a rating of 132 an above-average one at that.

Spirit Of Boom was no match for Lankan Rupee but his remarkable consistency was rewarded with wins in the William Reid and Doomben 10000 and certainly earned him a mention here.

Champion Miler

The mile division began and ended with Chris Waller.

Waller took Boban into this season rated 107p and by the end of the spring he had put five wins on end that included a vintage Epsom and culminated in a classy display in the Emirates which earned him a mark of 126.

He was able to match that form when winning the Chipping Norton but he was soon joined at the top by his stablemate Sacred Falls who led home a first-four for the stable in the Doncaster.

Sacred Falls had looked in good order in both the Canterbury and George Ryder Stakes before going to a new peak when conditions went his way in the Doncaster.

His rating of 126 is up 3lbs on his Doncaster win the year prior and he confirmed himself at that level the following week in the Queen Elizabeth.

Champion Middle Distance

With her mares allowance in hand the 127-rated Atlantic Jewel Horseform would have the measure of the 129-rated Dundeel Horseform at their respective bests but his Queen Elizabeth win was enough to give him the nod here.

The Queen Elizabeth was the richest middle-distance race in Australia for the first time this season but it certainly isn’t the first time that it has produced Australia’s top middle distance performance.

In-fact Reliable Man had matched the Cox Plate winner Ocean Park in last season’s Queen Elizabeth but he’d have had to settle for second, albeit narrowly, had he turned up this year.

Dundeel, aimed at the race, got to run at a true pace set by the smart Carlton House Horseform in what turned into a terrific contest.

Carlton House eventually gave way and Dundeel ran out the winner, proving better than the Ranvet and Doncaster form in what was a true test.

Champion Stayer

As is typically the case, Australia’s staying title was sorted out over Flemington’s two-mile course in November.

The Cup, and the valuable prize that comes with it, went the way of Fiorente Horseform but Red Cadeaux Horseform “won the race at the weights” and put up the best performance in his third appearance in the race that stops a nation.

An honourable mention must go to the Sydney Cup winner, The Offer Horseform. His four-length demolition of an up-to-scratch Sydney Cup field returned a rating of 122 with the promise of more to come.

Timeform 's Champions of 2013/14

Champion Racehorse/Champion Sprinter: Lankan Rupee - 132

Champion 2yo: Mossfun, Earthquake, Rubick - 119

Champion 3yo: Shamus Award - 124

Champion Miler: Boban, Sacred Falls - 126

Champion Middle Distance: Dundeel - 129

Champion Stayer: Red Cadeaux - 127