Victorian champion jockey Craig Williams made a special season even more memorable when he was awarded the Scobie Breasley Medal for the 2016-17 campaign at a gala function celebrating Victorian racing's champions on Sunday evening.
And superstar mare Winx, who recorded her 19th victory in a row at Randwick on Saturday when she won in heart stopping fashion, was named Victorian Racehorse of the Year.
Chris Waller's record-breaking galloper, who is bidding to win her third Cox Plate in succession later this spring, won by a distance from Darren Weir's top liner Black Heart Bart, with the Melbourne and Caulfield Cup winners Almandin and Jameka tied for third place.
The David Hayes/Tom Dabernig/Ben Hayes training combination won the Fred Hoysted Medal for their training feat last summer when they saddled Catchy to win the Blue Diamond and Sheidel to win the Oakleigh Plate, a Group 1 double within an hour.
Comfortable margin: Jockey Craig Williams out in front on Vega Magic in the 2017 Memsie Stakes at Caulfield Racecourse.Credit: AAP
Ballarat based, but English born and raised, Archie Alexander took the Colin Alderson Rising Star award for the best young trainer under 40 after saddling up 34 winners in the season.
Irishman John Allen, who has emerged as a top class performer over jumps and on the flat, won the Tommy Corrigan Medal for jumping riders, seeing off the challenge of Richard Cully narrowly.
Williams, who at 40 is now in the prime of his career, beat off boom apprentice Beau Mertens in a nailbiting race for the riders' title in July.
But he had no such worries in the contest for the Scobie, as he won his fifth Breasley Medal by a comfortable margin of 19 votes ahead of nearest challenger Damian Lane.
Winx after her 19th straight win.Credit: AAP
The stewards award votes on a 3-2-1 basis for the best rides at each metropolitan meeting during the season, and Williams had no challengers as he amassed 62 votes over the course of the 109 fixtures.
Lane, a West Australian, has now established himself in the upper echelons of the state's jockey ranks, secured 43 votes.
Eight-time Scobie winner Damien Oliver ran third, with 42 votes. Beau Mertens, just one of a number of hugely impressive apprentices making their mark in Victorian racing, placed fourth on 40 votes.
Williams, who scooted to victory aboard Vega Magic in the first group one race of the new season, the $1 million Memsie Stakes at Caulfield on Saturday, owed his success to consistent form.
He polled at 29 of the meetings under review, and on two occasions displayed his mastery to such an extent that he polled twice on the one day.