Reigning Scobie Breasley Medal winner Blake Shinn has retained Victorian racing’s highest individual honour on a night when the father-and-son team of Anthony and Sam Freedman were feted for their training achievements and their star stayer Without A Fight was named the Victorian Racehorse of the Year.
The 2024 Victorian Racing Awards, held in Melbourne on Saturday night with the support of Evans & Partners, culminated in Shinn – who polled 72 votes to narrowly defeat his nearest rival Damian Lane by just four votes (68) – winning the Scobie Breasley Medal for a third time. The 36-year-old first landed the coveted prize whilst he was still serving his apprenticeship back in 2005.
Despite being outpointed by Lane in the Victorian Metropolitan Jockeys’ Premiership, Shinn was judged to be the rider who had excelled above all others following the counting of votes, which are awarded on a 3-2-1 basis by Racing Victoria (RV) Stewards for the best ride at each metropolitan meeting throughout the 12-month season.
The Scobie Breasley Medal top five was rounded out by Daniel Stackhouse (31 votes), Harry Coffey (27) and dual Victorian Apprentices’ Premiership winner Celine Gaudray who amassed 24 votes to claim fifth place on a countback from Billy Egan and Jye McNeil.
In an intriguing battle Lane led his rival 40 votes to 26 at the halfway point of the season, before Shinn powered home through the second half to claim victory. It was a cluttered affair behind the runaway duo with just five votes separating the 10 riders placed from fifth to 14th.
Whilst he may have missed out on a first Scobie Breasley Medal, Lane did not leave the ceremony empty-handed collecting his maiden Roy Higgins Medal for winning the Metropolitan Jockeys Premiership, as well as the overall Victorian Jockeys’ Premiership title, becoming the first rider since Luke Nolen in 2009-10 to claim both in the one season.
Lane was back on stage later in the night to claim an award that carried special meaning with the Victorian Jockeys Association’s (VJA) annual peer-voted award renamed the Damien Oliver Most Valuable Jockey in honour of the recently retired champion who, like Lane, hails from Western Australia.
Team Freedman were acknowledged by a voting panel of racing media and industry representatives for a stunning season which was headlined by Without A Fight’s historic Spring Racing Carnival campaign.
In a close contest, the reigning Carlton Draught Caulfield Cup (2400m) and Lexus Melbourne Cup (3200m) winner received 66 votes from the panel to edge out Mark Walker’s sprinting sensation Imperatriz(60) in the race to be crowned Victorian Racehorse of the Year, with mighty mare Pride Of Jenni (41) in third.
Their handling of Without A Fight also saw the Freedmans land the inaugural Most Outstanding Training Performance award, having garnered 84 votes from the judging panel ahead of Ciaron Maher (31) for his training efforts with Pride Of Jenni and Henry Dwyer (27) for his international success with Asfoora.
That prompted another visit to the stage for Sam Freedman who had earlier received the Colin Alderson Rising Star award, which is given to a Victorian trainer aged 40 or under whose career is on an upward trajectory and has performed with distinction over the preceding 12 months.
With Sam playing an instrumental role, Freedman Racing jumped from 13th to third in the Metropolitan Trainers’ Premiership and the top five in the Victorian premiership, where their winning strike rate of over 22 per cent was unmatched.
Another emerging talent, this time from the riding ranks, was also celebrated when Jaylah Kennedy was voted the VJA Rising Star by her fellow riders. The New Zealand native enjoyed a breakout season in the saddle, notching 21 winners in town among 67 across the state.
Kennedy’s fellow Kiwi native Aaron Kuru retained the Tommy Corrigan Medal he won for the first-time last year after he was again judged to be Victoria’s leading jumps jockey across the 2023-24 racing season. Kuru, whose list of achievements included a third straight success in the Ecycle Solutions Two Rivers Steeplechase (3800m) in partnership with Elvison, polled 15 votes to finish five ahead of his nearest challenger, Will Gordon.
In the training ranks, Ciaron Maher was feted for another stunning season in which he captured his fifth consecutive Victorian Trainers’ Premiership and a fourth consecutive Metropolitan Trainers’ Premiership for which he was presented with the Fred Hoysted Medal.
Other repeat winners were Louise Abey and Jessica Cocks, who retained the Racing Victoria Acknowledged Retrainer of the Year and Emerging Retrainer of the Year awards respectively, with the latter open to retrainers in each of the first three years that they participate in RV’s Acknowledged Retrainer program.
Following is the full list of awards presented at the 2024 Victorian Racing Awards:
- Scobie Breasley Medal – Blake Shinn
- Victorian Racehorse of the Year – Without A Fight
- Most Outstanding Training Performance – Anthony and Sam Freedman
- Tommy Corrigan Medal – Aaron Kuru
- Colin Alderson Rising Star Award – Sam Freedman
- Damien Oliver Most Valuable Jockey – Damian Lane
- VJA Rising Star – Jaylah Kennedy
- RV Acknowledged Retrainer of the Year – Louise Abey
- RV Emerging Retrainer of the Year – Jessica Cocks
- Metropolitan Jockeys’ Premiership (Roy Higgins Medal) – Damian Lane (88 wins)
- Victorian Jockeys’ Premiership – Damian Lane (148 wins)
- Metropolitan Apprentices’ Premiership – Celine Gaudray (42 wins)
- Victorian Apprentices’ Premiership – Celine Gaudray (70 wins)
- Metropolitan Trainers’ Premiership (Fred Hoysted Medal) – Ciaron Maher (107 wins)
- Victorian Trainers’ Premiership – Ciaron Maher (218 wins)