Mufhasa (NZ) is poised to seal his second Horse of the Year crown at the New Zealand Racing Awards on Wednesday.

The Stephen McKee-trained Pentire gelding claimed his first title in 2008-09 but has had to bow to Vosne Romanee (Electronic Zone) and Jimmy Choux (Thorn Park) in the past two seasons.

To win the award in 2009, Mufhasa had claimed G1 sprint wins in the Telegraph Handicap and Waikato Sprint, as well as winning the G2 Coupland’s Bakeries Mile and finishing third in the G1 George Ryder Stakes in Sydney.

Mufhasa’s credentials for the award this year are far stronger – but then so too are those of his rivals.  He claimed four G1 wins including the Makfi Challenge Stakes (1400m) at Hastings, Toorak Handicap (1600m) at Caulfield, Captain Cook Stakes (1600m) at Trentham and Futurity Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield.

Two G1 wins at home and a G1 Cox Plate second has Jimmy Choux right in contention, while three G1 wins to both Veyron (Thorn Park) and Shez Sinsational (Ekraar) have that pair right in the reckoning.