Aidan and Annemarie O'Brien were inducted into the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders' Association's Hall Of Fame at the organisation's 2016 Breeding and Racing Awards ceremony on Jan. 28. Aidan O'Brien was the trainer of five of the evening's equine award recipients–2-year-old filly Rhododendron (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), 2-year-old colt Churchill (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), 3-year-old filly Minding (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), 3-year-old colt The Gurkha (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and older horse Found (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). The recipient of the Wild Geese Award, presented annually to an Irish national who has enjoyed success internationally, was Keeneland's Director of Sales Geoffrey Russell.
Stephen Collins, ITBA Chairman, said, “The ITBA National Awards is our opportunity to celebrate the outstanding successes of 2016–a year in which Irish Thoroughbred talent was displayed to an international audience. Yet again Irish horses were to the fore winning the vast majority of all the prizes that matter. It allows our industry to acknowledge those who have made a lifelong contribution to Irish Thoroughbred breeding and, in the case of our Wild Geese recipient, to one of our own who has flown the Irish flag with pride on an international stage.”
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
