Sir Patrick Hogan celebrated on two counts in Melbourne on the weekend.  The Cambridge Stud owner accepted the Kingston Town Greatness Award at the Tatts Cox Plate Ball and then led in Precedence after the Kiwi bred stayer won the G2 Moonee Valley Cup on Cox Plate day.

Precedence (5g Zabeel – Kowtow by Shadeed) was a heavily backed favourite and he was perfectly placed by Blake Shinn before kicking clear on the home turn to score a comfortable victory over Above Average and Capecover.

He received an extra 1.5kg for the Melbourne Cup after his victory in the G3 JRA Cup last month and a similar penalty for Saturday’s win which should ensure he gains a start at Flemington on Tuesday week.

Hogan owns Precedence in partnership with Dato Tan Chin Nam and the Duchess Of Bedford.  The gelding was bought out of the Bloomsbury Stud draft for $180,000 at the 2007 NZ Bloodstock Premier yearling sale.  He hails from a long line of Group 1 winning stayers in Europe.  He is also closely related to 2009-10 Champion NZ Sprinter (Lord) Tavistock (Montjeu).

Hogan received the Kingston Town Award in recognition of Zabeel’s dominant record in the Cox Plate.  He has sired four winners of the weight-for-age championship – Octagonal (NZ) (1995), Might and Power (NZ) (1998), Savabeel (2004) and Maldivian (NZ) (2008).

“It’s great to be recognized by the Moonee Valley Racing Club,” Hogan said.  “It’s a huge honour for the NZ breeding industry, myself and Cambridge Stud.”

Bonecrusher (NZ) won the inaugural Kingston Town Award in 2001 and Champion mare Sunline (NZ) also received the award in recognition of her dominance at Moonee Valley.  Others to receive the accolade include Tommy Smith, Bill Collins, Darby Munro, Brent Thomson, Bryan Martin and Bart Cummings.

The 2010 award will be added to Zabeel’s extensive collection.  To this end he is twice Champion Australian Sire, twice Champion Australian Sire (AEI), 14 times The Dewar Award (Aust. & NZ figures combined) recipient, and four times Champion New Zealand Sire.