MOYGLARE Stud’s ongoing contribution to Irish racing and bloodstock was recognised by the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association last weekend, when Eva Maria Bucher-Haefner was inducted into the ITBA Hall of Fame.
It was a significant moment as the same honour was bestowed upon Eva Maria’s father Walter in 1998.
Located on 500 acres in Maynooth, Co Kildare, Moyglare not only supports Irish racing through racehorse ownership, employment and breeding, it is also a shareholder in Goffs, is Ireland’s longest-serving continuous race sponsor and has generously supported the Curragh and the Irish Equine Centre.
On the track, Homeless Songs and Kyprios have been Moyglare’s most recent Group 1 stars. But the roll of honour stretches back across seven decades and includes Be My Guest, Assert, Refuse To Bend, Go And Go, Brief Truce, Media Puzzle, Stanerra, Trusted Partner, Dance Design, Free Eagle, Casual Conquest and Search For A Song.
Last Saturday in The Heritage Hotel, Eva Maria watched video tributes to her dedication and vision from stud manager Malachy Ryan, bloodstock advisor Fiona Craig, HRI chief executive Suzanne Eade, ITBA chairman Cathal Beale, and former chairman John O’Connor.
Frances Smullen spoke about the special association her husband Pat had with Eva Maria and the Moyglare colours. “They were synonymous with Pat, almost his colours as well,” she said. Moyglare quietly made a major donation to the cancer charity promoted by Pat in 2019.
Immense support
The Minister for Agriculture, Martin Heydon, added: “Eva Maria’s support for the industry has been immense. Her support for causes such as the Irish Equine Centre, RACE, Treo Eile and Irish Injured Jockeys, among many other causes, has been industry leading.
“Her investment in the development of the Curragh has been pivotal and, added to Moyglare’s race sponsorship, sponsorship of the stable-staff canteen, funding for its new watering system and refurbishment of the famed Curragh gallops, it is clear to see Eva Maria’s influence has been hugely significant.”
Given a standing ovation as she made her way to the stage to accept her award, Eva Maria told MC Leo Powell she considered the Irish the “Italians from the North”, because of their calm approach to life.
Chance meeting
She explained how she and Fiona discovered Malachy by chance working in Kentucky and brought him to Moyglare to succeed Stan Cosgrove.
Receiving this accolade “fills me with pride and gratitude,” she said. “and I think my father would be very proud, because he was the one who gave Moyglare over to me, who believed in me so much that I could carry it on.”
Remembering her father Walter, Stan Cosgrove and Pat Smullen, she said: “I’m pretty sure now that those three gentlemen are having a glass together, so cheers to them. And another huge thank you to the great team at Moyglare.”
Best in world
Among the special guests in attendance was Princess Zahra Aga Khan, who was on hand to accept the Older Horse Award for Calandagan. The Irish-bred gelding is officially the best racehorse in the world, following his season which culminated in a historic Japan Cup success.
Calandagan was bred by Zahra’s father the Aga Khan, who passed away last February, aged 88.
His daughter is carrying on his work and she was joined at the award by her son and daughter.
The late Aga Khan also bred the 2025 Arc winner Daryz, who just edged out the Irish-bred Minnie Hauk at ParisLongchamp. However, that performance was enough to make Minnie Hauk the best filly in the world over any distance or surface and she rightly won the 3YO Filly Award for her breeder, Ben Sangster.
Award winners
Novice Hurdler: FINAL DEMAND (Ken Parkhill)
Novice Chaser: LECKY WATSON (Ronnie O’Neill)
NH Racemare: BAMBINO FEVER (Geoffrey Thompson)
Chaser: INOTHEWAYURTHINKIN (Mrs Noreen McManus)
Next Generation: JOANN LYONS
Small Breeder: SANDRA RUSSELL
2YO Filly: PRECISE (Whisperview Trading) & TRUE LOVE (Coolmore)
2YO Colt: PUERTO RICO (April Showers Syndicate)
3YO Filly: MINNIE HAUK (B.V. Sangster)
3YO Colt: DELACROIX (Tepin Syndicate) & FIELD OF GOLD (Roundhill Stud)
Older Horse: CALANDAGAN (H.H. The Aga Khan)
Wild Geese: EDMOND MAHONY
Special Award: JAMES HANLY
Special Award: WILLIAM KENNEDY
Contribution to the Industry: JOE OSBORNE
Hall of Fame: EVA MARIA BUCHER-HAEFNER
AFTER 32 years of service, Joe Osborne left Godolphin Ireland last November and on Saturday night he was honoured with the Contribution to the Industry Award from the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association.
Since joining Darley in 1994, having relocated from Kentucky, Joe principally led the operation in Ireland at Kildangan Stud. Over his long career with Darley and then Godolphin, he was also closely involved in the development of the racing and breeding operations in France, America, Australia and Japan.
He was also instrumental in establishing the Godolphin Flying Start programme over 20 years ago.
Before guests at the National Breeding and Racing Awards rose to their feet to applaud the award recipient, video tributes from Darley’s Liam O’Rourke, bloodstock consultant Michael O’Hagan, Harry Sweeney of Darley Japan and HRI’s Suzanne Eade were shown.
Flying Start graduates Gerry Duffy, Cathal Beale and Francis Graffard also acknowledged the important role Joe played in their careers, but the most moving compliments came from three of Joe’s children, who recalled how their father was always there for them when they were growing up, despite the demands of his job.
Accepting his award, Joe recognised his wife Carol’s lifetime of support and made the point that we should never underestimate the sacrifice that families make for the careers than many people in racing have.
He mentioned the late John Gannon as a key mentor earlier in his career and also acknowledged his good fortune in growing up in Kildangan Stud, where his late father Michael was manager from 1986.
Coolmore treble
In 2025, Darley sire Dubawi was responsible for Delacroix, who shared the 3YO Colt title with Field Of Gold.
Winner of the Eclipse Stakes and Irish Champion Stakes, Delacroix was bred by the Coolmore-based Tepin Syndicate, while Field Of Gold - successful in the Irish 2000 Guineas and St James’s Palace Stakes - was bred by Bobby and Honora Donworth.
The Donworths were accorded a very special welcome to the stage as they recently sold Roundhill Stud in Limerick and now live in France, closer to their son Tim who trains at Chantilly.
The 2YO Filly Award was also shared, as the official handicappers could not split the merits of Precise and True Love, both trained by Aidan O’Brien for the Coolmore partners. Precise (by Starspangledbanner) completed the Moyglare-Fillies’ Mile double, while True Love won the Cheveley Park Stakes and had earlier slammed subsequent Group 1 winners Puerto Rico and Power Blue by five lengths and more at the Curragh.
Puerto Rico landed the 2YO Colt Award, thanks to his late-season double in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere and the Criterium International. By Wootton Bassett, he is another Coolmore home-bred.
EDMOND Mahony will hopefully serve many more years as chairman of Tattersalls but in December he stepped away from the rostrum for the final time, prompting the ITBA to bestow up on him the Wild Geese Award, which is given to an Irish person who has risen to the top of the racing or bloodstock world internationally.
From Co Meath, Mahony joined Tattersalls in 1981 and 12 years later became the ninth chairman of the world-famous sales company.
In a pre-recorded video interview, Tattersalls director Martin Mitchell recalled how he showed a young Mahony around the sales ground on his first day there and very quickly noted the young man’s dedication to - or possibly his obsession with - bloodstock sales.
Although he had appeared a little introverted, Mahony was a very different character once given the gavel.
“I remember thinking, wow, it’s like he’s been selling for years,” Mitchell said. “And, of course, he had been travelling around in the car with [legendary auctioneer] Sir Peter Nugent, who was like a mentor to him. They would sell horses as they drove around looking at yearlings, and so by the time Edmond got to the ring he was probably as accomplished as many an auctioneer who’d been doing it for years.”
Mitchell said that Tattersalls was “quite old fashioned” when Mahony took over as chairman but he changed all that.
“He brought a new life to the company. It became more business-like. He certainly had big ideas and he was determined to get those through. He really improved the company. I think he made a new meritocracy.”
John Hammond, Patrick Cooper and Henry Beeby also paid tribute to Mahony’s talents, and almost all the contributors referred to his insistence on giving every horse he auctioned the same level of respect, whether it was a million guinea yearling or a National Hunt foal in need of the minimum bid.
Speaking to MC Leo Powell, Mahony explained: “I always thought every sale meant an awful lot to the people that were bringing us horses, and because I started at the bottom, I guess I always slightly felt more comfortable selling those horses rather than selling the million pound horses, because essentially they sell themselves. You have a lot more influence when you’re selling fluffy National Hunt foals for people that it really matters to. That was really the thing I enjoyed most.”
As Mahony was unable to attend the awards night, the interview was recorded at Tattersalls immediately after he had sold his final lot and, as he reflected on his career to date, it appeared that the emotion of the occasion was starting to sink in.
Looking ahead, he said he was looking forward to having more free time to enjoy racing and hunting “and maybe not having to have a professional hat on all the time. It would be nice to be at a point-to-point and not have to think about the next Cheltenham Sale!”
THE most popular award winner of the night was Sandra Russell, winner of the Small Breeder Award.
Based in Bansha, Co Tipperary, Sandra bred Excellent Truth, winner of the Grade 1 Diana Stakes at Saratoga last July.
From a hunting background, she was accepted on to the Irish National Stud’s thoroughbred breeding course and then went to “finishing school” in Switzerland before taking a chance on Kentucky, where she says she learned a huge amount from Robbie Lyons, Gerry Dilger and Mike Ryan over nine years.
Sandra returned to Tipperary in the early 1990s and rented a yard from Jim and Kate Nicholson in Bansha. She began boarding mares for clients - including near neighbour Con Marnane - and quickly developed a good reputation.
“She learned from the best over there, and she brought that expertise back to Ireland, and she is now teaching younger people how to do it properly,” Con said.
Sandra foaled last year’s Group 1 winner Powerful Glory for Con and also the 2021 classic winner Mother Earth for Grenane House Stud.
A mare sourced from Jockey Hall Stud got Sandra going as a breeder in her own right and now, from only five mares, she has bred a Grade 1 winner herself.
“When it happens, everyone is thrilled for you because they know how hard it is for that to happen,” she said. “That was my first and maybe the only Grade 1 winner that I’ll ever have, because they don’t come around that often.”
Nenagh neighbours
Two North Tipperary breeders were celebrated for breeding two of the best racehorses in the world in 2025. Incredibly, James Hanly (breeder of Ombudsman) and William Kennedy (Ethical Diamond) live a mile from each other in Nenagh.
Ombudsman won the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Juddmonte International at York. Ethical Diamond also won at Royal Ascot, before taking the Ebor at York and then memorably storming home at Del Mar to win the Breeders’ Cup Turf.
Both breeders gave a lot of credit to the people behind the scenes, notably James’s wife Charlotte and Helen Robinson, who manages Ballyhimikin Stud, and Nick Cope, who manages William’s Stanley Lodge in Cashel.
JOANN Lyons is the latest winner of the Next Generation Award. She bred the 2025 Gimcrack Stakes winner Lifeplan and her Summerhill Stables has quickly established itself as a top-class consignor of flat-bred foals.
Her father Padraic was a star Gaelic footballer for Meath and Joann also represented her county on the pitch before focusing on the racing and bloodstock industry.
In just four years as a consignor, Joann has made a big impression at the sales, particularly with the progeny of A Taad Moody, who was listed placed for the Lyons family.
Lifeplan (€85,000, by Kodi Bear) was her first foal and last November Joann sold his Gleneagles half-brother for €285,000.
It was an emotional night for the Lyons family as earlier in the day they had celebrated the life of Joann’s aunt Ciara Eglington Lyons, a noted breeder and producer of top-class racehorses, who passed away earlier in the week.
Also much missed last Saturday was Ronnie O’Neill, who posthumously won the Novice Chaser Award as breeder of Cheltenham winner Lecky Watson. His wife Linda and son John collected the award. Lecky Watson was one of three Willie Mullins-trained Grade 1 winners who earned their breeders an ITBA gong.
Elite breeder Ken Parkhill picked up the Novice Hurdler Award for Final Demand, and Geoffrey Thompson received the National Hunt Racemare Award for breeding dual Grade 1 winner Bambino Fever.
The team from Islanmore Stud in Croom, Co Limerick, made plenty of noise when stud manager Nigel Anderton was called to the stage to receive the Chaser Award on behalf of Noreen McManus, breeder of Gold Cup winner Inothewayurthinkin.