Festival of Light, who was undefeated in the three starts this year in the United Arab Emirates, was named Horse of the Year on Saturday at the annual Emirates Racing Association Nashwan Awards ceremony for the 2000-'01 season.

A four-year-old son of A.P. Indy campaigned by Godolphin Racing and trained by Saeed bin Suroor, Festival of Light broke his maiden by seven lengths at Jebal Ali on February 23 and followed the victory with a ten-length conquest in a handicap at Nad al Sheba on March 11. In the Godolphin Mile (UAE-G3) on the Dubai World Cup (UAE-G1) undercard on March 24 at Nad al Sheba, Festival of Light and jockey David Flores beat Curule to the wire by three-quarter lengths.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum's Godolphin Racing was named the Nashwan Award for Owner of the Year, which was awarded to the owner with the highest percentage of winners to runners throughout the season. Nick Robb won the Nashwan Award for Trainer of the Year.

The Steve Cauthen Award for Jockey of the Year went to Richard Hills, who narrowly defeated defending champion Ted Durcan. In a new category, Captain Steve was awarded the ERA International Award for best performance by an overseas-trained horse for his victory in the Dubai World Cup.

"All of the voting was extremely close and further emphasizes the excellence in competition throughout the Emirates racing scene," said Les Benton, chief executive of the Emirates Racing Association. "Those successful in all awards were worthy winners as the competition was extremely strong. Last season proved to be an outstanding success and we are confident that 2001-'02 will be able to build on that and continue the standard of excellence that we have gained."