Five days of outstanding racing at Royal Ascot has made a significant impact on the points for the Cartier Racing Awards, with Bow Echo and Ombudsman joining True Love at the head of the Cartier Horse of the Year standings following laudable wins at the meeting.
Established in 1991 to reward excellence in horseracing, the 36th Cartier Racing Awards will be presented at the Dorchester Hotel in London on the evening of Wednesday, November 18.
Bow Echo confirmed his status as the best three-year-old miler in Europe as he backed up his dominant Betfred 2000 Guineas success with another win over Gstaad in Tuesday’s St James’s Palace Stakes, although only a short-head separated the duo this time.
Trained by George Boughey and homebred by the late Sheikh Mohammed Obaid Al Maktoum, Bow Echo has gained 80 points in Pattern races so far this year, moving him to the head of the Cartier Three-Year-Old Colt division as well as a share of top spot in the Cartier Horse of the Year category.
The Night Of Thunder colt will be hoping to continue his perfect career record when he tackles older opposition for the first time in next month’s Visit Qatar Sussex Stakes, a race which could also feature his great rival Gstaad (72 points).
Ombudsman (80), another son of Night Of Thunder, produced one of the performances of the meeting with a dominant victory over Minnie Hauk (40) in Wednesday’s Prince Of Wales’s Stakes, in which this season’s Prix Ganay and Prix Aga Khan IV victor Daryz (76) finished third.
The first dual winner of the race for 31 years, Ombudsman now holds a narrow advantage over Daryz in the Cartier Older Horse division following an unbeaten campaign that has also produced wins in the Dubai Turf Sponsored By DP World and Star Sports Brigadier Gerard Stakes.
A superb week for Night Of Thunder also saw his son Ten Bob Tony (56) emerge as a Cartier Older Horse contender as he sprung a surprise in the opening race of the meeting, the Queen Anne Stakes, on Tuesday.
True Love (80) continues to lead the Cartier Three-Year-Old Filly category, although the Betfred 1000 Guineas heroine met with a second successive defeat at the hands of 2025 Cartier Two-Year-Old Filly Precise (64) in Friday’s Coronation Stakes.
Both fillies are trained by Aidan O’Brien for Coolmore partnerships and the same combination are responsible for fellow Cartier Three-Year-Old Filly contender Diamond Necklace (64), who completed a Classic double in France when taking the Prix de Diane Longines at Chantilly earlier in the month.
Venetian Sun (48) features on the Cartier Three-Year-Old Filly leaderboard as well, with the Tony Bloom & Ian McAleavy-owned daughter of Starman moving to the top of the Cartier Sprinter standings thanks to victory in the Commonwealth Cup on Friday.
Mission Central (32) highlighted his Cartier Sprinter claims with success in Tuesday’s King Charles III Stakes, while Almeraq (32) emerged as a contender in the same category as he denied a top international field in a thrilling renewal of the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes on Saturday.
Scandinavia (56) is the new leader in the Cartier Stayer division after he bravely denied defending champion Trawlerman (24) in an epic edition of the Gold Cup on Thursday. The Coolmore-owned four-year-old was posting a sixth straight win as he gamely prevailed in one of the great races of Royal Ascot, beating a field that also included Caballo de Mar (42), Sweet William (24) and Al Nayyir (17).
About the Cartier Racing Awards
The Cartier Racing Awards were established in 1991 to reward excellence in horseracing. There are eight equine awards – the Cartier Horse Of The Year, the Cartier Older Horse, the Cartier Sprinter, the Cartier Stayer, the Cartier Three-Year-Old Colt, the Cartier Three-Year-Old Filly, the Cartier Two-Year-Old Colt and the Cartier Two-Year-Old Filly.
European horseracing’s top awards are delivered through a tried and tested combination of points earned by horses in Pattern races (30%), combined at the end of the season with the opinions of a panel of racing journalists/handicappers (35%) and votes from members of the public (35%).
In addition to the equine awards, the Cartier/Daily Telegraph Award of Merit goes to the person or persons who, in the opinion of the 15-strong Cartier Jury, has/have done the most for European racing and/or breeding either over their lifetime or within the past 12 months.
The 36th Cartier Racing Awards will be presented at the Dorchester Hotel in London on the evening of Wednesday, November 18.