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Roaring Lion, winner of four Group Ones during the summer, was crowned Horse of the Year at the 28th Cartier Awards on Tuesday night.
When the grey colt was beaten nine-and-a-half lengths by subsequent Derby winner Masar first time out in the Craven Stakes at Newmarket, a bady prize looked more likely than European racing’s most prestigious end-of-season award.
But Roaring Lion proved immensely tough, thrived on his racing and after winning the Dante and just failing to get a mile and a half in the Derby he never looked back. In many ways his season mirrored that of the Clbadic generation; a group which took a while to hit their stride but turned out to be a very smart vintage in the end.
Owned by Sheikh Fahad Al Thani, who received the award from Cartier’s Laurent Feniou, and his brothers’ Qatar Racing, Roaring Lion won the Eclipse, International and Irish Champion Stakes before dropping back to a mile and over-coming adverse conditions to win the QEII on Qipco British Champions Day, which is sponsored by his owners.
The American-bred son of Kitten’s Joy, who has now been retired to Tweenhills Stud in Gloucestershire, was also voted Cartier Three-year-old Colt and was one of a remarkable five “Cartiers” won by John Gosden-trained horses at the glittering award ceremony attended by 250 people on Tuesday night in London’s Dorchester Hotel.
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