International star Maurice has been named the Japan Racing Association's Horse of the Year for 2015.

The son of Screen Hero, trained by Noriyuki Hori, was also named Champion Sprinter/Miler after a perfect 2015 campaign when he won all six starts, including three G1 events in the Yasuda Kinen at Tokyo, the Mile Championship at Kyoto and the Hong Kong Mile at Sha Tin in December.

Bred by Togawa Bokujo and raced by Kazumi Yoshida, Maurice dominated the voting for the Horse of the Year award with 291 votes out of 215.

Lovely Day and Duramente received 55 and 19 votes respectively.

The Horse of the Year title is the highest honor given to JRA-registered horses and is selected by the Horse of the Year selection committee, represented by journalists of various publications.

2015 JRA Award Winners

2YO Colt: Leontes

2YO Filly: Major Emblem

3YO Colt: Duramente

3YO Filly: Mikki Queen

Older Colt/Horse: Lovely Day

Older Filly/Mare: Shonan Pandora

Best Dirt Horse: Copano Rickey

Steeplechase Horse: Up To Date

Trainer (races won): Noriyuki Hori (56 wins)

Trainer (winning average): Noriyuki Hori (23.4%)

Trainer (money earned): Yasutoshi Ikee (¥1,931,479,600)

Trainer (training technique): Mikio Matsunaga

Jockey (races won): Keita Tosaki (130 wins)

Jockey (winning average): Christophe Lemaire (0.195%)

Jockey (money earned): Mirco Demuro (¥283,146,000)

Most Valuable Jockey: Keita Tosaki (54 points)

Steeplechase Jockey: Yusuke Igarashi (11 wins)

Jockey Newcomer: Katsuma Sameshima (39 wins)

Trainers' figures include National Association of Racing and overseas race results.

The MVJ Jockey Award is determined by points allotted a jockey for his or her ranking in four different categories for designated JRA, NAR and overseas races.