Black Type Group 1 HOTY a Lock

Given her exploits, which included matching Winx's record for the number of Group 1 races won in a single racing season, it's difficult to quible that Via Sistina (Fastnet Rock) isn't a worthy Black Type Premiership Horse of the Year for 2024-25. She is also the Black Type Group Group 1 Premiership winner. Aside from her losing run in the Gr2 Apollo Stakes when she returned for the autumn, Via Sistina claimed every other race she entered – all Group 1s. The seven, in seasonal order, comprised the Winx Stakes, Turnbull Stakes, Cox Plate, Verry Elleegant Stakes, Ranvet Stakes and Queen Elizabeth, leaving her with 91 points for the season. Despite that sensational run of elite form, it's easy to forget just how much of a fight Mr Brightside put up, with the son of Bullbars earning 83 points from Group 1 races, a figure that might have been greater had he not ventured to Hong Kong and missed The Championships. Whilst Via Sistina was undefeated at Group 1 for the season, Mr Brightside did something statistically interesting from his own seven Group 1 performances; he produced a sequence of seconds and firsts that never deviated, earning him an elite points haul that reads, 11,13,11,13,11,13,11. In third place, chased by an enormous pack, was fan favourite Fangirl (Sebring) with 55 Group 1 points headed by her Queen of The Turf Stakes triumph. Distinct from the overall Black Type Horse of The Year title, it's both illuminating and sobering to cast one's eye across the cohort of horses in Australia that finished on the board in at least one Group 1 race. All told there are 150 of them. Looking down the column, and taking in the gravity of their achievements, it's a brilliant snapshot of an amazing group of racehorses whose exploits are sometimes taken for granted, or, at the lower end of points earned, under-appreciated. Scrolling down the list which is in order of points earned purely from Group 1 finishes, click on any of the 150 names, and when their page opens, type Gr1 in the search bar for a composite glance at how their elite seasons unfolded. For a wholistic view of all of Australia's Group 1 races for 2024-25, click on the 2024-25 Results tab (top left on the menu bar) and, again, type Gr1 in the search bar to filter out all other races, leaving the 76 Group 1s to traverse.

Via Sistina deserves her two major Black Type titles (pic: Mark Gatt)