Voting is now open to the public for the 2017 Horse Racing Ireland Awards Outstanding Achievement category, with the winner announced at the HRI Awards on Tuesday December 5 at Leopardstown Racecourse.
The winner of the Outstanding Achievement Award is voted on by the Irish racing media and the general public through the HRI website www.hri.ie. Voting will remain open until 12noon on Friday December 1.
The nominations in this category are jockeys Lisa O’Neill, Rachael Blackmore, Padraig Beggy and Jack Kennedy, and trainers Pat Kelly and Joseph O'Brien.
Lisa O’Neill
A huge part of the Gordon Elliott team, Lisa partnered Tiger Roll to a truly memorable success in the J.T. McNamara NH Challenge Cup Chase at the Cheltenham Festival. Despite proving less than fluent at some of his obstacles, the partnership went to the front before the third last and galloped on resolutely up the famous Cheltenham hill to record a truly memorable success. Lisa also landed one of the most competitive races of the year, the Guinness Kerry National at Listowel, for the second consecutive year on Potter’s Point having won the race on Wrath Of Titans in 2016 and is a worthy nomination for this prestigious award.
Rachael Blackmore
Rachael took the brave decision to turn professional just over two years ago and she has really reaped the rewards for that decision. She created history when becoming the first female to ever be crowned Irish Champion Conditional Rider in the 2016-2017 National Hunt Season, a fine tally of 32 winners was enough to win the title. She was seen to particularly good effect on Ellmarie Holden’s smart chaser Abolitionist which gave her a memorable success in the Leinster National Handicap Chase (Grade A) at Naas having also finished second in the Troytown Chase and third in the Irish Grand National. She also enjoyed a good partnership with the same stable’s smart juvenile hurdler, Ex Patriot, with the pair finishing a fine fourth in the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham in March.
Padraig Beggy
Padraig may only have ridden five winners in the 2017 Flat Season but he earns his nomination in this category for his superb success on the Aidan O’Brien-trained Wings Of Eagles in the Epsom Derby in early June, one of the most famous races in the world. Sent off an unconsidered 40/1 chance, the partnership were nearer last than first passing the three furlong marker but Padraig galvanised his mount to great effect and they swooped late and fast with a tremendous flourish to win going away. Padraig also enjoyed a fruitful partnership with the high-class Hydrangea and won the 1,000 Guineas Trial Stakes at Leopardstown on her while he also partnered Flag Of Honour to win the Eyrefield Stakes over the same course in late October.
Jack Kennedy
Despite an injury-interrupted year, Jack Kennedy got to show the racing world his undoubted riding talents on more than one occasion last season with victory on Labaik in the Supreme Novice Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival at the age of just 17 one of many highlights. Outlander gave him two Grade 1 winners as the pair combined to win the Lexus Chase at Leopardstown and the JNWine.com Champion Chase at Down Royal, A Toi Phil won the Leopardstown Chase and the PWC Champion Chase at Gowran Park while Death Duty was another Grade 1 winner in the Lawlor’s Hotel Novice Hurdle at Naas. Having been sidelined for a couple of months during the summer, Jack has regained the winning habit in recent weeks with notable wins on Clarcam (Fortria Chase), Mengli Khan (For Auction Novice Hurdle) and Apple’s Jade (Lismullen Hurdle), all at Navan.
Pat Kelly
The Pertemps Handicap Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival is one of the most competitive races in the National Hunt season and while winning the race with Mall Dini in 2016 was a fine training performance, to come back 12 months later and win the same race with a different horse is a truly remarkable achievement. Presenting Percy was the horse in question this time and while there were fears that a 10lbs hike in the ratings for a Fairyhouse success in February might tell against him, this very likeable performer, under an expert ride from Davy Russell, came home a very impressive winner and his astute handler fully deserves his nomination in this category.
Joseph O’Brien
Just like his riding career, Joseph O’Brien’s short training career to date (only took out a licence in June 2016) is nothing short of meteoric and his truly remarkable achievement to saddle Rekindling to win one of the world’s most famous races, the Melbourne Cup, is one of the stories of the year. The youngest trainer at the age of 24 to win the race, Rekindling was the first three-year-old to score since 1941, and other big race successes for Joseph in a memorable first full calendar year with a licence came courtesy of Tigris River in the Guinness Galway Hurdle while Rekindling also won the Ballysax Stakes at Leopardstown and the Curragh Cup. Joseph also has the distinction of saddling over 100 winners (both flat and NH combined) since January 1 and other notable wins came with Landofhopeandglory (Kilbegnet Novice Chase), Early Doors (Fishery Lane Hurdle) and Detailed (Martin Molony Stakes).
Awards are also presented in six other categories: Horse of the Year, National Hunt Racing, Flat Racing, Point-to-Point Racing, Contribution to the Industry and Racecourse of the Year.
Full details are available at www.hri.ie. A live stream of the awards from Leopardstown Racecourse will be available on December 5.
Patrick Kelly, winning trainer of Presenting Percy. Galway. Photo: Patrick McCann
