WHEN it comes to award ceremonies, a few different criteria can be used in choosing an outright winner. One brilliant performance that stood out, or a body of work, where each element adds to the whole.

This year, Enable may have won the most prestigious race of the year. Cracksman may have put up the performance of the season.

Masaar may have won the Derby, but the Horse for the Year of the year has to be Roaring Lion.

In his summing up after his courageous Queen Elizabeth II victory John Gosden’s words reminded one of John Oxx after Sea The Stars had retired. “All the training and races I threw at him, he came back bigger and stronger.” Oxx reported the same of his champion – he came back from the races hungry for more. Aidan O’Brien had referred to Giant’s Causeway in similar fashion – he gained weight through his tough season.

On actual ability, Roaring Lion may not rank close to those great horses but though the number of victories do not compare, a nine-race campaign for a classic three-year-old, from the Craven in April to the QEII in October, is worthy of high praise.

Once Gosden had ironed out his colt’s immaturity, he bounced back from a brave but non-staying effort in the Derby and ended up with a CV that took the Betfred Dante, Coral-Eclipse, Juddmonte International, QIPCO Irish Champion Stakes and dropped back to the mile for the QEII. Frankel had it easy!

Saxon Warrior, Masaar, Poet’s Word, so many of those he met along the way failed to last the distance.

It’s a book of work to sit favourably, if a bit behind, those other great three-year-olds like Giant’s Causeway and Sea The Stars.

He doesn’t deserve to have dirt in his face in Kentucky, but what an achievement if somehow he pulled it off, a Breeders’ Cup win where horses like Dancing Brave and Giant’s Causeway failed.