Scobie Breasley Medal Still Wide Open
- Thursday, 15 July 2010 07:45
Luke Nolen, who will win his first Melbourne jockeys' premiership at the end of the month, is one of 10 jockeys still in the running to win the Scobie Breasley Medal.
With just five metropolitan race meetings to go, Racing Victoria Limited is expecting one of the most open counts in the award's 15-year history.
Glen Boss, Damien Oliver, leading apprentice Jason Maskiell, Dwayne Dunn, Nick Hall, Steven King, Michael Rodd, Chris Symons and Craig Williams all remain in contention.
But history is on the side of premiership leader Nolen (63 wins) who holds an 11-win lead over nearest rival Maskiell.
Only twice has the premiership winner not won the medal - when Oliver beat Darren Gauci in the inaugural year, 1996, and Blake Shinn upset Nick Ryan in 2005.
The prestigious medal is awarded to the most outstanding flat jockey of the season and the winner will be announced at the Victorian Thoroughbred Racing Awards on August 8 at Crown's Palladium.
Oliver holds the record as a six-time winner while Williams has won the past four.
King, the 1997 winner, is the only other jockey among this year's remaining contenders to have been awarded the medal.
Votes are awarded at each Victorian metropolitan meeting from August 1 until July 31 by the Racing Victoria stewards' panel.
They are awarded on a three-two-one basis for the three rides the panel deems to be the most outstanding of the day, which means a jockey can claim all six votes if they produce the three best rides at the meeting.
A range of awards will be presented alongside the Scobie Breasley Medal including the Fred Hoysted Medal (trainer), Tommy Corrigan Medal (jumps jockey), Victorian Racehorse of the Year Award and the Most Memorable Moment Award.
Picture: Fiona Tomlin
