Meath will be well represented at awards

Meath will be well represented in the race for success at the forthcoming 2011 Horse Racing Ireland (HRI) awards that will take place on Monday 12th December. This is the ninth year of the HRI awards and the winners across six categories will be decided by the votes of the Irish racing media. The awards recognise the human and equine excellence in the sport of horseracing where Ireland continues to achieve great success in the elite international arena. Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney TD will be the guest of honour. Trainer Gordon Elliot, from Summerhill, has been nominated for the National Hunt award. Bohermeen jockey Johnny Murtagh is up for the Flat award while amateur jockey Nina Carberry, from Ratoath, and trainer Ger Lyons, an adopted Meath man at this stage, will go head-to-head for the Outstanding Achievement award. "This was another tremendously successful year for Irish racing at home and abroad," said HRI chief executive Brian Kavanagh. "It began with a record-breaking 13 Irish trained winners at the Cheltenham Festival in March and ended with a fantastic Aidan O'Brien double at the Breeders Cup Meeting in Churchill Downs. "Gordon Elliott saddled two winners at Cheltenham courtesy of Chicago Grey and Carlito Brigante while trainer Arthur Moore and his niece Nina Carberry combined to take the Ladbrokes Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse on Easter Monday " Ger Lyons had his first taste of Group One success when Lightening Pearl and Johnny Murtagh landed the Cheveley Park Stakes and success in these races indicate that there is a lot to look forward to in Irish racing again next year," added Kavanagh. Elliot is a worthy contender for the National Hunt award, having steadily built up his profile as a trainer since sending out Silver Birch to win the 2007 Aintree Grand National. Last season proved to be something of a breakthrough one for Elliott with several very important victories to his credit. Among his many successes, Jessie's Dream gave him a first Grade One triumph in the Drinmore Novice Chase at Fairyhouse in December. Murtagh has enjoyed great success this season on the flat as he teamed up again with trainer John Oxx with whom he started his excellent career in the mid-1980s. The Bohermeen man won his fifth Irish Flat title and other big race victories included the Ballycorus Stakes at Leopardstown and the Renaissance Stakes at the Curragh, while overseas he took first place on Lightening Pearl in the Cheveley Park Stakes at Newmarket. Carberry has twice been champion qualified rider in recent years, but her nomination for the Outstanding Achievement Award is for her memorable triumph with Organisedconfusion in the Ladbrokes Irish Grand National at Fairyhouse on Easter Monday. She became only the second female rider to triumph in the history of Ireland's premier steeplechase while other victories include the Caffrey's Of Batterstown Handicap Chase at Fairyhouse on her father's Peak Raider and the Raymond Smith Memorial Hunters Chase at Leopardstown on the Enda Bolger-trained On The Fringe. Lyons has consistently been in the list of top 10 Irish trainers in recent years and with over 40 winners in 2011, it has been another fine season. However, his achievement in sending out Lightening Pearl to win the Group One Cheveley Park Stakes at Newmarket in late September was his breakthrough success at the top level. Elliot is in the National Hunt category along with Bryan Cooper, Willie Mullins and Paul Townend. Murtagh is nominated in the Flat category along with Seamie Heffernan, Aidan O'Brien and his son Joseph. Carberry and Lyons are in good company in the Outstanding Achievement category which includes Tom Doyle, Moore, Colm O'Donoghue and Dermot Weld.