HORSE OF THE YEAR AWARDS CONTENDERS:
Richard Edmunds - Raceform • July 18th, 2025 3:04 PM • 5 min read
There are four Group One weight-for-age races over either 2000 or 2040 metres in New Zealand every season, and those four results go a long way towards deciding the winner of the Middle-Distance category at the New Zealand Thoroughbred Horse of the Year Awards.
The spoils from the 2024-25 editions of those prestigious races were shared between two top-class horses who rose above the rest in that distance range – Snazzytavi and El Vencedor.
Cambridge Stud’s Snazzytavi climbed through the grades as a four-year-old in the 2023-24 season, where her quartet of wins culminated in a four-length autumn runaway in the Gr. 3 Easter Handicap. After kicking off the current term with an unplaced finish in the Gr. 1 Tarzino Trophy, the super-talented daughter of Tavistock soon resumed her rapid ascent.
The Graham Richardson and Rogan Norvall-trained mare went unbeaten through her four remaining starts this season. She won by two and three-quarter lengths in a 1600-metre open handicap at Te Rapa on September 27, then stepped up to Group One level in spectacular style in the Livamol Classic in early October.
The 2040-metre feature was moved to Te Rapa from its traditional home of Hastings, and that move suited Snazzytavi just fine – she has never been beaten in five visits to the Hamilton track.
Rider Warren Kennedy rode a patient race in the back half of the Livamol field before angling Snazzytavi to the outside at the top of the straight and letting her rip. She burst to the front and cleared out to win by an ever-widening three and a half lengths over Hi Yo Sass Bomb and No Compromise.
Snazzytavi stepped down in distance and added another victory in the Gr. 2 Cal Isuzu Stakes in her next start, then returned to 2000 metres to complete a Group One double in the Zabeel Classic at Ellerslie on Boxing Day.
This time she was pushed every step of the way by gallant rival La Crique, with El Vencedor just behind them in third. But Snazzytavi rose to the challenge and pulled out just enough, edging out La Crique by a nose in a pulsating finish.
Snazzytavi’s 15-start career has produced nine wins, four placings and $970,400 in stakes. Her Livamol and Zabeel heroics earned her favouritism for various other features through the rest of the season, but her campaign and career were suddenly put on hold in February due to acute laminitis.
Snazzytavi was sorely missed as she battled that ongoing ailment through the remainder of the New Zealand summer, but another 2000-metre star stepped up to fill the void.
El Vencedor earned his first nomination in this category last season, when his 10-start, two-win campaign was headed by a $20 boilover in the Gr. 1 Bonecrusher New Zealand Stakes at Ellerslie – his first win at the elite level. But his deeds this time around proved that was no fluke.
The Stephen Marsh-trained son of Shocking made a slow start to his 2024-25 campaign. After a first-up fourth at Ruakaka, he was unplaced in the Gr. 1 Arrowfield Stud Plate and Gr. 1 Livamol Classic. He turned his form around with a Gr. 3 Balmerino Stakes success over 2000 metres at Ellerslie in early November, then fell away again when finishing at the tail of the field in the Gr. 1 TAB Mufhasa Classic at Trentham in December.
A close third in the Zabeel Classic at double-figure odds hinted that the six-year-old might be finding his groove, and he never looked back from there.
El Vencedor carried 61 kilograms to a dominant five-length win in the Listed Fulton Family Stakes over 1500 metres, which set him up for his Group One weight-for-age treble in February and March.
The first leg of that hat-trick was the Herbie Dyke Stakes at Te Rapa, where he led most of the way and blew his rivals off the track in a brilliant three-length romp. El Vencedor dropped back to 1600 metres and scored another runaway win in the Otaki-Maori WFA Classic, then put an exclamation point on his career-best campaign with a head-bobbing defeat of La Crique in the 2000-metre New Zealand Stakes.
That was his second consecutive New Zealand Stakes win and the 12th win of a 41-start career overall, lifting his earnings past $2 million. He later went to Hong Kong for a shot at the Gr. 1 Queen Elizabeth II Cup, but over-raced badly and had run his race by the home turn. He faded down the straight to finish 10th.
While Snazzytavi and El Vencedor’s credentials stand out in the Middle-Distance category this year, La Crique’s performances are also well worth mentioning.
The daughter of Vadamos won the Gr. 2 Auckland Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes over 1400 metres at Pukekohe in November, then stepped up in class and distance and produced an incredibly consistent run of summer form. She was runner-up in four consecutive Group One races, and beaten by a neck or less in three of them.
La Crique ran second to Ladies Man in the 1600-metre TAB Mufhasa Classic, where she was beaten by a neck. She came up a mere nose short of Snazzytavi in the Zabeel Classic, then led the chase behind El Vencedor in his runaway Herbie Dyke Stakes success. That pair clashed again in the New Zealand Stakes at Ellerslie, where La Crique reduced the margin from three lengths to just half a head.
Trainers Katrina and Simon Alexander intended to campaign La Crique in Sydney in the autumn, but she was scratched from the Gr. 1 Tancred Stakes due to a hoof infection.
