Chris Alford last night capped a memorable fortnight by claiming his first Harness Racing Weekly Vin Knight Medal.
The win comes just nine days after the 37-year-old star became the youngest person in Australasia to drive 3000 career winners.
In front of a bumper crowd at Melbourne’s Crown Palladium, Alford finished on 82 votes, 13 clear of dual winner Kerryn Manning (Gath), with popular Bendigo trainer-driver Glenn Douglas filling third on 46 votes.
Honouring excellence in horsemanship at Victoria’s premier meetings, the Medal is open to both trainers and drivers with a panel of three voting weekly.
When voting went in-camera at the end of May, Alford topped the chart on 58, with Manning six votes in arrears and Lance Justice holding down third on 41.
The leading pair both attracted plenty of attention from the judges over the final three months of the 2004-05 season, but it was Alford who prevailed after his stellar season in the sulky was complemented with a series of key training triumphs.
Polling at 13 of the 48 meetings, Alford was the primary vote earner on six occasions and now joins his idol Brian Gath (1998), Peter Manning (1999), Kerryn Manning (2000 & 2001), John Justice (2002) and Gavin Lang (2003 & 2004) as winners of the prestigious Medal.
A six time winner of the Australian Drivers Premiership, Alford featured as the winning driver in last season’s Vicbred Super Series 2YO Colts & Geldings Final (Hei Shangri La), Italian Cup (Candymaker), VHRC Cup (Zabrinski), The Enduro (Candymaker) and Battle Of The Claimers Final (Repaid In Gold).
He also caught the eye of judges with his training performances, preparing five individual metro winners headlined by feature race triumphs with Jaccka Haughty (The Pure Steel) and Mister Tuberts (The Graduate).
As well as claiming the $5000 solid gold Medal and a unique place in history, Alford also picked up a trip for two to the famous New Zealand Cup week.
Thanks to the generous support of Garry Rogers Nissan and Terry Henderson a series of cash awards were also presented at last night’s gala function.
Glenn Douglas was awarded Most Improved Trainer, young Terang-based star Greg Sugars crowned the state’s Most Improved Driver, Monegeetta horsewoman Lisa Miles picked up the Victorian Young Achiever of the Year and George Crane was selected as Best Volunteer.
Legendary horseman Vic Frost was also inducted into the HRW Hall Of Fame. The first Australian driver to post 100 winners in a season (1969-70), Frost trained and drove three time Australian Horse of the Year Westburn Grant.
