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Will victory in tomorrow's $750,000 Gr1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) at Randwick - which would give Lonhro his 5th Gr1 win for the season - be enough to earn Horse-Of-The-Year honours? Racing NSW chief handicapper Mark Webbey told aapracingandsports.com.au bluntly: "No hope in the world. To be honest I can't even rate him above Defier.

On dealing with the merits of race performances on a weekly basis, Northerly is by far & away the best-performed horse this season. Lonhro is a very good horse, no doubt. John Hawkes has placed him very well. But even if Lonhro won on Saturday & went on to win the Doomben Cup, I still couldn't have him overtaking Northerly. Northerly hasn't done too much wrong. His form in the spring was outstanding, he won the Australian Cup & was 2nd in a Gr1 in Sydney. And don't forget he beat Lonhro by about 25 lengths in the Cox Plate. Even Defier has beaten Lonhro 3 times.

Defier is still a superior animal." Northerly has won 4 Gr1s this season: the Underwood, Cox Plate & Caulfield Cup last spring & Australian Cup this autumn. Lonhro won the Caulfield Stakes & Mackinnon Stakes last spring & Chipping Norton & George Ryder this autumn. Webbey summed up: "Northerly has got the runs on the board, albeit being beaten this autumn. His performances are still substantial enough to warrant being Horse-Of-The-Year. He rates 124 compared to Defier at 120 & Lonhro's peak rating of 117."

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