VEGA ONE IS QUEENSLAND'S HORSE OF THE YEAR
By Graham Potter | Monday, September 20, 2021
The honours keep coming for the Tony Gollan stable with Vega One picking up the prestigious Queensland Horse Of The Year title for the 2020/21 season at the TAB Queensland Thoroughbred Awards.
Vega One won the Group 1 Kingsford-Smith Cup in thrilling fashion over the Queensland racing winter carnival before only being beaten by half-a-length in the Group 1 Stradbroke.
Vega One also took out two further honours … the four-year-old Horse Of The Year and the Older Horse Of The Year.
Gollan himself was a runaway winner of the Trainer Of The Year Award. It was his eighth successive win in this category and came on the back of a terrific season which saw Gollan sign off on more than one hundred metropolitan winners for the second year in a row, an unprecedented feat, as well as beating his own state-wide record number of winners as the stable continues to raise the bar.
The Queensland Jockey of The Year and the Ken Russell Queensland Apprentice of the Year awards went to Ryan Maloney and Justin Huxtable respectively.
The Toby and Trent trained Alpine Edge won the Queensland Two-Year-Old Horse Of The Year (beating out the other finalists Miss Hipstar, Prince Of Boom and Sweet Dolly). Rothfire, trained by Robert Heathcote, triumphed in the Three-Year-old Horse Of The Year award (beating Apache Chase, isotope Kukeracha) while Vega One’s Four-Year-Old Horse Of The Year win came at the expense of Incentivise, Jonker and Krone.
Carioca (horse), Colin O’Neill (jockey), Eric Kirwan (trainer), Athol, Darryll and Neil Strong (trainer), and Dan, Keith and Denise Ballard (associate) were indicted into the Queensland Racing Hall of Fame for their outstanding contribution to the industry.
The full list of winners:
TAB Queensland Thoroughbred Horse of the Year – Vega One (Tony Gollan)
Magic Millions Queensland Trainer of the Year – Tony Gollan
Garrard’s Horse and Hound Queensland Jockey of the Year – Ryan Maloney
Sky Racing Ken Russell Queensland Apprentice of the Year – Justin Huxtable
Tattersall’s Racing Club Metropolitan Trainers’ Premiership – Tony Gollan
Screen Offset Printing Metropolitan Jockeys’ Premiership – Ryan Maloney
Metropolitan Apprentice of the Year – Justin Huxtable
Provincial Apprentice of the Year – Kyle Wilson-Taylor
Country Apprentice of the Year – Alisha Ross
Racing Queensland Student of the Year – Jasmine Cornish and Tahlia Fenlon (tie)
QRIC Stewards Award – James Orman
Raheen Stud QTIS Horse of the Year – Eloquently (Steve Tregea)
Dracarys Stallion Queensland 2YO Horse of the Year – Alpine Edge (Toby and Trent Edmonds)
Ipswich Turf Club Queensland 3YO Horse of the Year – Rothfire (Robert Heathcote)
Access Insulation Queensland 4YO and Older Horse of the Year – Vega One (Tony Gollan)
Provincial Premiership Horse of the Year – Brad (Tim Cook)
Provincial Premiership Trainer – Stuart Kendrick
Provincial Premiership Jockey – Ryan Wiggins
Country Premiership Horse of the Year – Sizzalating (Todd Austin)
Country Premiership Trainer – Tanya Parry
Queensland Jockeys Association Country Premiership Jockey – Alisha Ross
TBQA Queensland Stallion of the Year – Spirit Of Boom
TBQA Champion First Season Stallion – Worthy Cause
TBQA Champion 2YO Stallion – Better Than Ready
TBQA Broodmare of the Year – Gaudeamus
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