Champion jockey Damien Oliver has won his third Scobie Breasley Medal in a row and his eleventh in the award’s 26-year history with a ten-vote victory at a televised ceremony.
Oliver polled 61 votes with Dwayne Dunn his nearest rival and Craig Williams, who won the Melbourne jockeys’ premiership, finishing third.
Oliver won the inaugural Scobie Breasley Medal in 1996 and in a sign of his longevity in the sport, he has gone on to claim it another 10 times.
The Scobie Breasley Medal is voted on by Racing Victoria stewards and was one of 13 awards announced on Wednesday night during a Racing.com telecast.
Champion sprinter Nature Strip was voted Victorian Racehorse of the Year after winning the Moir Stakes and VRC Sprint Classic, giving trainer Chris Waller his fourth consecutive win in the category after claiming it with Winx for the past three years.
Nature Strip received 62 votes from the panel, which comprises members of the racing media and Racing Victoria’s handicapping team.
Japanese Cox Plate heroine Lys Gracieux finished second, ahead of Melbourne Cup hero Vow and Declare.
Danny O’Brien won his first Fred Hoysted Medal for Victorian trainers after his stellar season which included victories in the Melbourne Cup with Vow And Declare and Miami Bound in the VRC Oaks.
He trained 100 winners for the season at a strike rate of more than 17 per cent.
Two Victorian Jockeys’ Association (VJA) peer-voted awards were also presented with Damien Oliver and Jye McNeil declared joint winners as the VJA’s Most Valuable Jockey.