The queen is not quite dead. The three-time Australian horse of the year, Black Caviar, is now settling into life as a broodmare following her extraordinary exploits on the track.
But her successor as the world's highest-rated sprinter, Lankan Rupee, has upheld the honour of Victorian-trained sprinters in taking the title of 2013-14 Australian Racehorse of the Year.
In a closely fought battle – in stark contrast to the foregone conclusions of the Caviar era – Mick Price's gelding narrowly held off the challenge from Melbourne Cup winner Fiorente in a result that might surprise many, given Fiorente won at group1 level in the spring and autumn and over varying distances.
Lankan Rupee garnered 145 votes, while the Gai Waterhouse-trained Fiorente picked up 121.
With an electorate of 60 – the chief handicappers from the nation's race clubs were augmented by selected members of the racing media – and votes cast on a 3-2-1 basis, the pair were standout contenders.
The third-rated horse, the New Zealander It's A Dundeel, was well behind with 41 votes.
The only other two horses to achieve double-figure voting tallies were Boban, who progressed from benchmark races at the start of his 2013 spring campaign to end it as a three-time group 1 winner, and the three-year-old Shamus Award who, as a maiden, won the Cox Plate, and returned in the autumn to win the Australian Guineas.
Lankan Rupee was beaten only once in his eight starts as a four-year-old and really made his mark during a sensational autumn campaign when he rattled up a hat-trick of breathtaking group1 wins in the Oakleigh Plate and Newmarket Handicap in Melbourne, and the TJ Smith Stakes in Sydney.
Fiorente crowned his racing career with victory under champion jockey Damien Oliver in the Melbourne Cup, although the English import proved through the 2013-14 season that while he was able to stay the 3200 metres of the Cup, he had far more strings to his bow.
He also won the Dato Tan Chin Nam Stakes over 1600 metres at Moonee Valley in the spring, and returned in the autumn to show he had suffered no ill effects from his Cup exertions by winning the Australian Cup (2000 metres) at Flemington in March.
He was subsequently retired to stud after breaking down in Sydney during the autumn carnival.
Lankan Rupee is back in action this spring but while he has run well he has yet to taste victory, having been beaten twice – first-up by Angelic Light, who triumphed by a short head in the group2 McEwen Stakes at Moonee Valley on his reappearance, and more recently by the veteran Buffering in the group1 Moir Stakes, again in a tight finish.
Not surprisingly, Lankan Rupee was named Champion Sprinter of the Year, while his sire, Redoute's Choice, was Champion Australian Sire for the third time, but his first since 2010.
Lankan Rupee's award confirms Australia's preference for high quality sprinters, as his triumph means he is the sixth short-course galloper in the last eight years to take the title (Black Caviar won three, while Scenic Blast and Miss Andretti were also successful in this period).
Fiorente gained some measure of consolation by being named Stayer of the Year, while It's A Dundeel – successful in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes during Sydney's rebranded autumn carnival – took the title of Champion Middle Distance galloper.
The Darley operation and its former trainer Peter Snowden (now working in partnership with his son, Paul) were in the spotlight thanks to the exploits of two fillies: Earthquake, the Blue Diamond winner, who was voted the top Two-Year-Old, and Guelph, who was dominant in the spring when she scored in the Thousand Guineas, and was nominated as the leading Three-Year-Old Filly.
Given his Cox Plate and Australian Guineas triumphs, it was little surprise that Shamus Award was named Champion Three-Year-Old Colt or Gelding.
Darren Weir's talented and versatile dual-purpose veteran Gotta Take Care took the title as Champion Jumper of the Year, depriving Ciaron Maher's classy steeplechaser Bashboy of a historic hat-trick.
Record-breaking Sydney trainer Chris Waller took out the Bart Cummings Award as leading group1 trainer for the second year in succession, while Sydney jockey Nash Rawiller was the leading group 1-winning jockey, despite losing the ride on Fiorente earlier in the spring.
Waller had eight group 1 victories, courtesy of Boban, Foreteller, Red Tracer, Sacred Falls and Zoustar.
Rawiller won the top group1 jockey title for the fourth time in six years, scoring seven wins at the highest level in 2013-14.
