RAPPER Dragon has been named as Hong Kong Horse of the Year award at a ceremony last Friday. Hong Kong’s top four-year-old made history during the season when he became the first horse to win all three legs of Hong Kong’s Four-Year-Old Classic Series.

He sadly had to be put down after fracturing a pelvis in the Group 1 Champions Mile in May.

John Moore’s stable star had an outstanding campaign with four wins from six starts. The gelding won the Hong Kong Classic Mile and Hong Kong Classic Cup and then completed a sweep of Hong Kong’s three-race Four-Year-Old Classic Series in the BMW Hong Kong Derby.

Rapper Dragon was also named the Champion Middle-Distance horse, based on his brilliant performances in the Hong Kong Classic Cup and the BMW Hong Kong Derby.

He also secured 57.5% of the public vote to claim the Most Popular Horse title.

Beauty Only was named the season’s Champion Miler. The Tony Cruz-trained six-year-old won two of his nine starts, including the Group 1 Hong Kong Mile. The Irish-bred Holy Roman Emperor gelding also finished second on three occasions.

The Champion Sprinter award went to the retired Aerovelocity, who also won this award in the 2014/15 season.

The Pins gelding is rated as one of the toughest horses ever to have competed on the Hong Kong circuit and won a second triumph in the 2016 edition of the Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint.

The 2015/16 Hong Kong Horse of the Year Werther took the Champion Stayer title. The John Moore-trained gelding won the Group 1 Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup.

Premiere, a three-year-old son of Dylan Thomas from the John Size stable with three wins from 12 starts, claimed the Champion Griffin Award.

John Size took the champion trainer title for a ninth time and Joao Moreira the champion jockey title for a third consecutive season.

The recently-retired champions Able Friend and Aerovelocity were honoured with Lifetime Achievement Awards in recognition of their great contributions to Hong Kong racing.