Racing: Mufhasa crowned top horse

Mufhasa won the major honours. Photo / Supplied

Mufhasa was crowned New Zealand horse of the year at the annual Mercedes thoroughbred racing awards in Christchurch last night.

Mufhasa, who was also unanimously selected as champion sprinter, captured 33 of a total 50 votes to take the supreme award for the 2008-09 season, defeating other category winners Princess Coup (middle distance) Daffodil (3-year-old) and The Heckler (2-year-old).

More than 500 racing enthusiasts attended the awards dinner.

Mufhasa, trained by Stephen McKee, is jointly owned by David, Natalie and Simon Archer and Diane Wright, who were named owners of the year.

During the season Mufhasa won the group one Waikato Sprint, the group one Telegraph Handicap and the group two Coupland's Bakeries Mile. He has had 11 wins from 23 career starts and won $1,156,057 in stakes.

The people's choice award also went to Mufhasa. People were able to vote for this award on the NZTR website, but the result wasn't confirmed until an audit into 181 votes from an overseas subscriber resulted in those votes being voided.

Mufhasa beat Bulginbaah by 30 votes.

Nom Du Jeu won the champion stayer title.

James McDonald won both champion jockey and champion apprentice jockey titles.

The youngster only started riding two years ago but in the past season he had 125 wins, including the group one New Zealand Oaks.

Mark Walker, who had 102 season wins, was an easy winner of the champion trainer title.

Jo Rathbone won the jumps jockey award and Great Northern Steeples winner Hypnotize was the jumper of the year.

Trackside TV presenter Steve Davis won the media award, while Ron Williamson, a former amateur rider, club administrator and owner, won the contribution to racing prize.

Garry Chittick was breeder of the year after having six individual group one winners for the season, including Vision And Power, Daffodil and Metal Bender.

Gussy Godiva, dam of Roman Emperor, was named broodmare of the year.

Stallion honours were divided between the evergreen Cambridge Stud sire Zabeel, his close rival this year O'Reilly and Volksraad.

AWARDS (WITH VOTING FIGURES)

Centaine stallion award: O'Reilly.
Grosvenor stallion: Volksraad.
Dewar stallion: Zabeel.
Broodmare: Gussy Godiva.
Breeder: Garry Chittick
Filly: Daffodil.
Media: Steve Davis.
Apprentice jockey: James McDonald.
Jumps jockey: Jo Rathbone 26; Isaac Lupton 18; Tommy Hazlett 7; Jonathon Riddell 1.
Jockey: James McDonald 30; Samantha Spratt 17; Michael Coleman 3.
Trainer: Mark Walker 42; Murray and Bjorn Baker 7; Kevin Gray 3.
Owner: DL, NN & SC Archer and DJ Wright 51.
People's Choice: Mufhasa 385; Bulginbaah 355; MacO'Reilly 145.
Jumper: Hypnotize 48; Counter Punch 2; Just Not Cricket 2; Just A Swagger 0.
Two-year-old: The Heckler 49; Kaaptan 1, King's Ransom 1, Seven Schillings 0.
Three-year-old: Daffodil 38; Tell A Tale 14; Down The Road 0; Harris Tweed 0; Court Ruler 0.
Sprinter (-1500m): Mufhasa 52; Fritzy Boy 0; Jacowils 0; Ruud Van Slaats 0.
Middle Distance (1501m-2100m): Princess Coup 42; MacO'Reilly 6; Mufhasa 3; Culminate 0; Sir Slick 0.
Stayer: (2101m +): Nom Du Jeu 20; Spin Around 14; Capecover 10; Mr Tipsy 7; Six O'Clock News 0.
Outstanding Contribution to racing: Ron Williamson.
Horse of the year: Mufhasa 33; Princess Coup 10; Daffodil 6; The Heckler 1.

- NZPA