Copy That misses top honours in apparent HRNZ blunder - and bosses won’t even explain

How can a horse who won the most money, the most races and the New Zealand Trotting Cup not win the Horse of the Year title or at the very least the Pacer of the Year?

The only explanation is that Harness Racing New Zealand made an administrative blunder.

In May, HRNZ announced it was extending the end of the 2020-21 season from the traditional July 31 until December 31, along with the realignment of the next season to a calendar year.

And on its own website, it has recognised the 17-month season with tallies for the leading drivers, trainers and horses including the extra five months.

Melbourne owner Merv Butterworth had every reason to expect Copy That was a shoe-in for top honours after a stellar season when the horse won 15 races, more than any other horse, banked $778,598, clearly the most, and bagged the most prestigious race in the country, the New Zealand Trotting Cup.

For good measure, on his terrific winter campaign in Queensland, Copy That beat champion pacer King Of Swing, the reigning Australian Horse of the Year, in the Group I Sunshine Sprint.

You can imagine Butterworth’s surprise when top three-year-old filly Bettor Twist was named Pacer of the Year.

Credit where it’s due, Bettor Twist had an outstanding season, winning 13 of her 23 races and $573,059, including a string of Group Is, but they were against only her own age and sex. And in a four-race Australian campaign she won only one minor $20,000 race.

Copy That won the four-year-old title but because he didn’t win Pacer of the Year, he was never going to win Harness Horse of the Year - the overall title going to top trotter Sundees Son, winner of 11 races and $631,005.

So how could the judges have got it so wrong?

Copy That won Group I races on both sides of the Tasman, including the New Zealand Cup. PHOTO: Ajay Berry/Race Images.The clue came when the compere read out the horses’ credentials and Copy That was credited with only $280,893 in earnings, omitting his Australian winnings, and no New Zealand Cup.

Unfathomably, despite the season having been clearly signalled as being 17 months, nobody at HRNZ seems to have told the awards organiser, its Communications & Marketing Co-Ordinator Courtney Buchanan.

Buchanan sent out voting papers on August 23, with a reply deadline of September 1 in time for an awards night scheduled for October 16.

Covid scuppered that evening and another mooted for later in the year and it was not until March 5 that the ceremony was finally held in Christchurch.

That left oodles of time for HRNZ to instruct its judges to vote again, taking into account the last five months of the year.

Ironically, when Sundees Son was announced the winner, the video replay HRNZ chose to play was that of his demolition in the Dominion Handicap, run in November, outside the 12 months under consideration.

Top filly Bettor Twist won seven Group I races in New Zealand against her own age and sex.So, how does HRNZ reconcile the award winners with its declared extended season?

HRNZ heads in the sand

We made three attempts over nine days to get some explanation from HRNZ, approaching first Racing Manager Catherine McDonald then chief executive Gary Woodham - but each request was ignored, with not even an acknowledgement of our emails.

They might have argued that the racing season of August 1 through July 31 is embedded into the Racing Act 2020 and therefore requires a legislative change by Parliament. But that doesn’t stop the organisation from deciding its own voting boundaries.

Was there a disconnect in HRNZ when Buchanan went on maternity leave in November?

Does this mean the last five months of the year will disappear into a black hole, the feats never to be recognised?

We also wanted to know how many people voted in the awards, who they were (was there a south-north bias?), and what points did each horse earn.

But that might have been too much to expect given the letter to each judge came with a warning of secrecy.

“This year your votes will need to be kept confidential,” it said. “This means you are not able to share who you voted for with anyone else. If you do communicate your votes they will not be counted.”

What happened to the pledge of transparency that Woodham gave when taking up his position last year?

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Sara Famularo with freakish filly Carabella who won 17 of her 19 starts before injuring a tendon.FOOTNOTE: It is not unprecedented for a filly to beat the older horses to the Pacer of the Year title but they were completely dominant candidates.

When champion filly Carabella won in 2010-11 she had won 10 of her 11 races and when Elect To Live prevailed in 2001 she had won 12 races including the Australian Pacing Derby against the boys. Their records were so superlative they were both voted Horse of the Year.

The strength lacking in the open horses was also a factor in 2001-02 with New Zealand Cup winner Kym’s Girl having won only two races.

The same applied when three-year-old colts Ultimate Sniper (2019), Have Faith In Me (2015) and Young Rufus (2002) won Pacer of the Year, the cup winners Cruz Bromac, Arden Rooney and Gracious Knight having comparatively thin records here.

* Seven trotters have taken the Harness Horse of the Year title previously, all pin-up stars of their time - Monbet (2015), I Can Doosit (2011), Take A Moment (2002), Lyell Creek (1999), Merinai (1997), Sir Castleton (joint in 1983) and No Response (1978).

COPY THAT: 11121182531111129121413110

BETTOR TWIST: 44121111211211112213419

SUNDEES SON: 11511214211311131

Check out previous winners of the ultimate awards here.