Dubai: Godolphin’s unbeaten Cloth Of Stars is the joint leader of the Cartier Older Horse category as the first points for the 27th annual Cartier Racing Awards were announced on Wednesday.

Trained by Andre Fabre in France, Cloth Of Stars has posted Group 3, Group 2 and Group 1 wins this year culminating in a breathtaking neck victory over the highly-regarded Zarak in the Prix Ganay at Saint-Cloud on May 1

In an ultra-competitive division, the son of Sea The Stars shares pole position with the Roger Charlton-trained Decorated Knight, winner of the Group 1 Jebel Hatta at Meydan in March and the Group 1 Tattersalls Gold Cup at the Curragh, Ireland, on May 28.

The Awards, which were established in 1991 to reward excellence in horseracing, will be presented on November 14 in London.

Eight awards from Horse Of The Year to Two Year Old Colt and Filly will be given away.

Top three-year-old filly Winter has the edge over fellow Classic winners Churchill and Brametot in the prestigious Horse Of The Year category.

Winter (84 points) provided Ireland’s champion flat trainer Aidan O’Brien with a fourth success in the Group 1 1000 Guineas at Newmarket before landing the Irish equivalent at the Curragh on May 28.

Winter’s stable companion Churchill, last season’s Champion Two-Year-Old Colt, is on 80 points as a result of his 2000 Guineas double, in the English and Irish showpiece events.

O’Brien’s Wings Of Eagles (52 points) is in third place behind Churchill and Brametot in the Three-Year-Old Colt standings following his stunning 40/1 victory in the Epsom Derby on June 3.

Godolphin colts Thunder Snow (34 points) and Barney Roy (32 points) are also in the mix at this early stage of the season.

Three-year-old fillies Enable, trained by John Gosden, and Rhododendron, another from the prolific O’Brien stable, are both on 48 points after finishing first and second respectively in the Epsom Oaks on June 2.

Meydan scorer The Right Man (24 points), trained in France by Didier Guillemin, tops the Sprint division, with Godolphin’s new acquisition Harry Angel (20 points), from Clive Cox’s Lambourn yard, hot on his heels after a dominant display in the Group 2 Sandy Lane Stakes at Haydock Park.

Another French-trained runner, Vazirabad (31 points), from the stables of Alain de Royer-Dupre, heads the Stayer category after Group 2 successes on Dubai World Cup night and at Chantilly on May 28.

Harry Herbert, Cartier’s racing consultant, commented: “Dual Classic winners Brametot, Churchill and Winter have shown exceptional form already in 2017.

“Royal Ascot is now on everyone’s horizon and the five-day spectacular often has a significant impact on the Cartier Racing Awards.”