KINGSTON, Jamaica - After a fairly consistent season when he notched six wins from 14 starts, including two Grade 1 races, it came as no surprise that Nipster was voted Horse of the Year for 2020.
From the 15 individuals consisting of 10 journalists and five members of the promoting company, 14 cast their ballot for Nipster.
Conditioned during 2020 by Gary Subratie, owned by Michros (Michael Bernard), Nipster, who earned over $9.3 million for the year, was also voted champion three-year-old, champion stayer and champion local bred overall.
Among Nipster’s victories in a truncated 2020 season – brought about by the novel coronavirus pandemic – were the Jamaica St Leger and the Ian Levy Cup.
“Nipster was superlative in 2020. He showed his pluck and class several times in his races, plus he was courageous with always a never-say-die attitude.
“Given the background of his dam Nippit, who never raced and who has only been able to produce one horse after several tries, Nipster is indeed special, and was duly voted as the Horse of the Year as his deserved honour,” Bernard said.
Anthony Nunes, who now trains Nipster, lauded Subratie and team for an exceptional job, and also shared his own expectations for the year ahead.
“Gary Subratie did a fantastic job with him last year, and it was well deserved, he should have been Horse of the Year, and he was voted as such which is fantastic,” Nunes said shortly after the announcement was made at Caymanas Park yesterday.
“I have Nipster now and I can only hope I can do as well as Gary did with him, it is going to be difficult to do any better, but we will certainly do our best. He is in good condition. When we took him, we kind of backed off a little, seeing that he had run about 14 races last year, so we just made him settle down, take a deep breath and get him into our programme. He is just coming back now. He has gone two easy gallops so far and, hopefully, he will be ready to go around March,” the champion trainer added.
Nunes’s Toona Ciliata was voted as the first runner-up, and Above and Beyond was the second runner-up to the Horse of the Year.
Toona Ciliata was also named champion middle-distance performer for four-year-olds and upwards, while Above and Beyond was voted champion three-year-old filly overall, following victories in the 1000 Guineas and Jamaica Oaks.
Nunes’s two-year-old chestnut colt Further and Beyond was voted champion two-year-old, while Wayne DaCosta’s American Sir Alton took the champion imported honours.
Alford Brown and veteran jockey Paul Francis were named Most Improved trainer and rider respectively.
The winners will be honoured on February 17, as Supreme Ventures Racing and Entertainment Limited (SVREL) is dubbing the Ash Wednesday racecard as ‘Our Champions Day’.
SVREL has placed $10.2 million on the table to increase purses for the 10-race programme, which will see the feature Ash Wednesday Trophy event being contested by Overnight Allowance horses over 6 ½ furlongs (1,300m), with $1.5 million on offer.
