Hall of Fame Public Vote – Now Open

Racing fans have until 2pm on Friday 24^th September to decide which of four top superstar sprinters should join inaugural inductees Frankel and Lester Piggott in the QIPCO British Champions Series Hall of Fame.

The public vote includes four sprint horses, Black Caviar, Dayjur, Lochsong and Moorestyle, who possessed blistering speed, reached extraordinary heights on the track and made significant contributions to British Flat racing from 1970 onwards. The shortlist has been decided by the Hall of Fame’s eight-strong independent judging panel, which comprises experts from across the horseracing industry.  It is now up to the public to decide which of the shortlist will enter the QIPCO British Champions Series Hall of Fame.

Vote now here.

Black Caviar is regarded to be the best sprinter that Australian racing has ever produced, with a record of 25 wins from 25 races during the period 2009-13. She is also one of the few stars from the country to make the trip over to the UK to pitch herself against the best in Europe. In 2012, trainer Peter Moody put her reputation on the line in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot. This confidence was ultimately rewarded, with the brilliant mare (just) securing another victory, after jockey Luke Nolen mistakenly eased her up before the winning post. However, with that win, she reinforced her status as a true great.

Dayjur also topped the sprinting division, winning seven of  his 11 races between 1989 and 1990. Trained by the brilliant Dick Hern, owned by the late Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum and steered by Willie Carson, Dayjur was a force to be reckoned with over trips of five and six furlongs. He was named European Champion Sprinter in 1990 following top-level successes in the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot, the Nunthorpe Stakes at York and the Sprint Cup at Haydock.

Lochsong is a filly who followed hot on the heels of Dayjur in the early 1990s. Trained by the legendary Ian Balding and with her major successes coming under the hands of a youthful Italian maestro, Frankie Dettori, she won both the Nunthorpe Stakes at York and the Prix de l’Abbaye at Longchamp as a four-year-old. Those victories led to her being named Cartier European Horse of the Year in 1993. Returning to race at the age of five, she won the King’s Stand Stakes by a huge margin of five lengths, before becoming one of a handful of horses to win two Prix de l’Abbayes in 1994.

Finally is Moorestyle, who was one of the most popular sprinters in the early 1980s, winning 13 of his 21 starts. Trained by Robert Armstrong, he proved himself at handicap level before becoming one of the great sprinters of his generation. He won the July Cup, Haydock Sprint Cup and the Diadem Stakes (now the QIPCO British Champions Sprint Stakes) on UK soil, as well as back-to-back Prix de la Forets, a Prix de l’Abbaye and Prix Maurice de Gheest over in France.

Notably, Moorestyle and Dayjur both won the Betfair Sprint Cup at Haydock, now part of the Sprint category of the QIPCO British Champions Series, with this year’s race taking place on Saturday 4th September.