Galopin Des Champs facing stiff competition for Horse of the Year Award
LOCKED IN BATTLE: Inothewayurthinkin and Galopin Des Champs fought out the finish in the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the duo are on another collision course for the Horse of the Year award. Picture: Healy RacingÂ
The countdown is on to the 2025 Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) Awards, which will take place on December 8 in Dublin, and as has become customary as we continue to sail through a period of unprecedented and sustained success, the category for Horse of the Year is replete with the very best in the business.
Galopin Des Champs may have relinquished his Cheltenham Gold Cup crown but was imperious in every other outing this season. Will that be enough to fend off his Prestbury conqueror, Inothewayurthinkin? Or, indeed, could Marine Nationale’s Champion Chase victory be enough to carry Barry Connell’s horse to the award?
Let’s not forget the Flat brigade, which includes Coral Eclipse and Irish Champion Stakes winner Delacroix, and his stablemate, Minnie Hauk, who won the English, Irish, and Yorkshire Oaks’ before being touched off in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. To crown a list of luminaries, how about Ethical Diamond, who went from relative obscurity to global fame when giving Willie Mullins a first Breeders’ Cup success by winning the Turf earlier this month at Del Mar?
Mullins takes his perennial place in the lists, that Del Mar success rightly earning him a nomination in the Flat Achievement category, alongside Joe Murphy, who broke his Group 1 duck with Cercene, Adrian Murray, who has had a great season, and Donnacha O’Brien, who continues to come up trumps on the big days. Add in veteran jockey Wayne Lordan, who has had another excellent year, and Ronan Whelan, whose link to Ballydoyle has allowed him to showcase his talent.
Aidan O’Brien may, surprisingly, be absent from that list, but he is, of course, amongst the finals in the Flat Award, where he is up against fellow trainers Johnny Murtagh, Joseph O’Brien, and Paddy Twomey, as well as newly-crowned champion jockey Dylan Browne-McMonagle, and former champ Colin Keane, who has enjoyed a fine year as retained rider to Juddmonte.
There are seven nominees for the National Hunt Award, with Irish and UK champion trainer Willie Mullins once again looming large in the category.
He may not be shortlisted for the National Hunt Achievement Award but the achievement of which he is most proud — saddling the winner of the Aintree Grand National with Patrick on board — has earned his son a place on the list.
Cian Collins, who secured a maiden Cheltenham Festival winner, and Eoin McCarthy, who recently saddled his first listed race winner on the back of a memorable Listowel Harvest festival which yielded six winners, is amongst the sextet. Jockey Keith Donoghue, who won the Velka Pardubicka, and Danny Gilligan, who rode Cian Collins’ Cheltenham Festival winner and added another Galway Plate to his haul, are joined in the category by champion conditional Tiernan Power Roche.
Nicola Burns, Wayne Hassett, and Jack Cleary are amongst the seven nominated for the Emerging Talent Award, while the Point-to-Point Award sees some familiar names reemerge, including former winner of the award, champion rider Barry O’Neill.
There will also be an award for Racecourse of the Year and Ride of the Year, but the nominees are yet to be announced.
Horse of the Year Award: Delacroix, Ethical Diamond, Galopin Des Champs, Inothewayurthinkin, Marine Nationale, Minnie Hauk.
Flat Award: Dylan Browne-McMonagle, Colin Keane, Johnny Murtagh, Aidan O’Brien, Joseph O’Brien, Paddy Twomey.
Flat Achievement Award: Wayne Lordan, Willie Mullins, Joe Murphy, Adrian Murray, Donnacha O’Brien, Ronan Whelan.
National Hunt Award: Barry Connell, Gavin Cromwell, Gordon Elliott, Sam Ewing, Willie Mullins, Paul Townend, Mark Walsh.
National Hunt Achievement Award: Cian Collins, Keith Donoghue, Danny Gilligan, Eoin McCarthy, Patrick Mullins, Tiernan Power Roche.
Emerging Talent Award: Nicola Burns, Jack Cleary, Ian Donoghue, David Doyle, Wayne Hassett, Stephen Thorne, Robert Whearty.
Point-To-Point Award: Colin Bowe, David Christie, Sam Curling, Pat Doyle, Richie O’Keeffe, Barry O’Neill.
