HRI Award nominees unveiled

The nominees for the 2018 Horse Racing Ireland Awards were announced today, with 26 Irish trainers, jockeys and horses in contention for the prestigious awards.
 
Awards are presented in a variety of categories across the entire Irish racing industry. Seven category winners are decided by a ballot of the Irish racing media – Horse of the Year, National Hunt Award, National Hunt Achievement Award, Flat Award, Flat Achievement Award, Point-to-Point Award and Racecourse Of The Year.

Members of the Racegoers Consultative Forum, the Irish Racehorse Trainers Association, the Association of Irish Racehorse Owners, the Irish Jockeys Association and the Irish Stablestaff Association will also vote on the Racecourse Of The Year Award.
 
The four nominations for Horse of the Year are Alpha Centauri, Tiger Roll, Un De Sceaux and Footpad.
 
Trainers Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott and jockeys Davy Russell and Patrick Mullins are nominated in the National Hunt Award category. There are five nominees for the National Hunt Achievement Award: Rachael Blackmore, Pat Kelly, Joseph O'Brien, Mark Enright and Gavin Cromwell.
 
The Flat Award nominees are trainers Aidan O’Brien, Jessica Harrington and Joseph O'Brien and jockey Donnacha O'Brien. There are six nominees for the Flat Achievement Award: Ken Condon, Patrick Prendergast, Colm O’Donoghue, Darren Bunyan, David Marnane and Shane Crosse.
 
The Point-to-Point category is made up of Liz Lalor, Barry O’Neill, Colin Bowe and Donnchadh Doyle. As short listed by the members of the Racegoers Consultative Forum, the nominations for Racecourse Of The Year are Down Royal, Punchestown, Listowel and Galway Racecourse.
 
A new award for 2018 is Ride Of The Year and the winner will be chosen by a public vote. Nominees will be announced in the coming days.
 
RTE sports broadcaster Hugh Cahill will be master of ceremonies for the awards, which take place in Dublin on Tuesday, December 4.
 
Brian Kavanagh, Chief Executive of HRI, said: “The Horse Racing Ireland Awards give us the opportunity to relive those tremendous achievements in the Irish racing industry, both at home and on the world stage. I would like to congratulate all the nominees and look forward to celebrating their achievements early next month.”