The Irish Field and Connolly’s RED MILLS last night celebrated the 19th Breeders Awards, at Orby’s by Lucy, at the Curragh Racecourse.
In May 2005, a young university student Emmet Benson won the first Connolly’s Red Mills/The Irish Field breeder of the month for a horse called Silver Cup. The next month, it was David and Diane Nagle for Yeats, and the Barronstown Stud owners went on to be crowned Breeders of the Year in 2006.
We have had a who’s who of winners since, but we had a significant change to the format in 2015-16 when we decided to introduce two main awards, one honouring the best on the flat, and another for National Hunt. This has proved to be very popular, and again we have celebrated some incredible breeders and horses. Tonight, we will do the same again, and may I offer sincere congratulations to the 12 recipients of monthly awards.
One of the best things about these awards is the fact that they are voted on by readers of The Irish Field. Being acknowledged in this way makes them, in my view, even more special. You can feel proud to be in such a select group.
This has a been a great journey with Connolly’s Red Mills who, in addition to being loyal sponsors and valued advertisers, have also become close friends. I am delighted to say that this loyalty extends to their continuation with the awards for a 20th season in 2024-25. What a partnership, and thanks Gareth, Joe, John and Paul for your vote of confidence. – Leo Powell
The first award was for a Royal Ascot winner in 2023 who won a Group 1 at long odds, but he showed this year that it was no fluke when he won the race for the second time. A 750,000gns yearling who has now won more than £1.7 million, and sired by the breeder’s own stallion Dark Angel, the winning horse is Khaadem, and the breeder is Gay O’Callaghan.
The July 2023 winner is a horse who built on the promise of his successful juvenile season to add the Group 1 Irish Derby to a victory at Epsom, and went on to land the Irish Champion Stakes and the Breeders’ Cup Turf. Now winner of eight races and £4.7 million in prizemoney, Auguste Rodin was bred by John Magnier at Coolmore, and Christy Grassick collected the trophy on his behalf.
August 2023 saw a bargain buy become a European Champion. A son of Prince Of Lir, this gelding was sold as a newly-turned yearling for €4,000 at Goffs, went back to one of their autumn sales and made a nice profit when selling for more than €28,000, and proceeded to earn the biggest success in his six-race winning career with victory in the Group 1 Nunthorpe Stakes. A huge congratulations went to breeder Lorna Doyle.
The breeder of the next winner, the September 2023 choice, was not present but he sent me a message that read “I am very honoured and humbled by the breeder of the month award, and still wondering how I got here at all”. The breeder is a renowned rugby player, and the horse he bred won the Group 1 Flying Five at the Curragh. Moss Tucker is named after two Irish international teammates of Dónal Spring, and Dónal’s son Daniel collected the award on his behalf.
The October 2023 award–winning horse was, listen carefully to this, sold to The Hong Kong Jockey Club for 300,000gns as a yearling, and has gone on to win 15 races so far in Australia and Japan, and netted more than £15 million for his owners. A champion in Hong Kong, he is only six and we can look forward to more success in the future. Romantic Warrior, a son of Acclamation, was bred by American Tim Rooney and Corduff Stud. Congratulations to Corduff’s James Egan.
November 2023 saw a winner of these awards bred by a man who stands the sire. Whytemount Stud’s Valirann sired Knappers Hill, is the son of a very smart King’s Theatre mare in Brogella, and was sold as a foal for €20,000. The good-looker transformed into a €155,000 three-year-old and justified the investment by landing Grade 2 victories in a bumper, over hurdles and fences. His breeder Ronnie O’Neill can’t join us tonight. His wife, Linda collected the award.
A lovely story behind the December 2023 winner. A son of the lesser-known Solskjaer, Found A Fifty contested five Grade 1 chases last season, winning at Leopardstown over Christmas, and ending with a win at Aintree. He was runner-up to three different horses on the other occasions, and all those three winners were trained by Willie Mullins. The man who shod all those Mullins winners is the breeder of Found A Fifty, master farrier Thomas Fahey.
What a purchase the January 2024 winner was when Ian Ferguson spent €36,000 to buy him as a yearling. Banbridge is a son of Doyen, out of a mare who raced unsuccessfully in point-to-points at the age of seven. Banbridge didn’t manage to win a point-to-point either, but his 10 wins on the racecourse include Grade 1 contests at Punchestown and Aintree, and he has amassed some £400,000 in earnings, Bred in partnership with her father Dan, come on up Danielle McSorley.
The February 2024 winner Nickle Back owes much of his success to the female side of his family. He is the best winner for his sire Mustameet, a Group 2 winner, and out of a mare, Mill House Girl, who won six races under all codes, and got some blacktype at Cheltenham. Nickle Back sold at the age of three for only €12,000, but his Grade 1 novice chase win shows that valuation to be all wrong. A huge round of applause went to Nickle Back’s breeder, Olive Gordon.
We heard about the phenomenal prizemoney won by Romantic Warrior, and while the March 2024 winner California Spangle is a household name in Hong Kong with 13 wins there and in the UAE, he has earned only £8 million! The son of Starspangledbanner has three Group 1 wins to his credit, two in Hong Kong and one in Dubai. What good value he turned out to be for his €150,000 yearling sale price. Breeder Mike Enright is abroad at present, his daughter Gabrielle collected the prize.
The breeder of the April 2024 winner could have walked to the venue tonight. Guy O’Callaghan and his wife Serena own Grangemore Stud, and Guy is the man responsible for a horse who earned this award for winning a Group 2, but he then went on to fully justify his inclusion tonight when adding the Group 1 Queen Anne Stakes at Royal Ascot to his roll of honour. Sired by the family’s Dark Angel, Charyn was a 250,000gns yearling, sold by Guy, and he was our penultimate winner of a monthly award.
Last but not least, was the May 2024 award is for a horse who is already a household name, and likely to go to become a superstar. Another Ian Ferguson purchase, costing €80,000 as a foal, Ballyburn has run eight times, and won seven. He won a Grade 1 at Leopardstown before doing likewise at both Cheltenham and Punchestown, and the son of Flemensfirth is pure racing gold. Representing his father Bobby, the Beeches Stud’s Robert McCarthy collected the prize.
