KEN Parkhill and James Hanly were named Breeders of the Year at the Connolly’s Red Mills The Irish Field Breeder Awards at the Curragh this week.
Parkhill has dedicated his life to producing top-class National Hunt horses from his Castletown Quarry Stud in Trim, Co Meath, while Hanly, based at Ballyhimikin Stud in Nenagh, Co Tipperary, is widely regarded as one of the shrewdest operators in the flat breeding world.
Both breeders were among the 12 monthly award winners invited to a celebration dinner at Orby’s by Lucy at the Curragh Racecourse. The identity of the overall flat and National Hunt winners was only revealed by master of ceremonies Leo Powell at the end of the evening and both Hanly and Parkhill looked shocked to hear their names called out. They shouldn’t have been.
Parkhill, accompanied by wife Lulu, qualified for the ‘final’ as breeder of Bob Olinger, who enjoyed a perfect end to his illustrious racing career with another Grade 1 hurdle race win at the Punchestown Festival.
Bob Olinger is from a family with which the Parkhills have had a long and distinguished connection. His dam was bred by Ken, trained by Lulu and ridden by their son Peter to win a bumper at Cork on her first start and she was beaten a short head on her only other run. She is dam of six winners on the track and another pair who won between the flags. There are few comparable families in the stud book.
A veterinary surgeon, Parkhill began breeding in 1975, when his father Marshall bought him a little filly named Sharpaway. Ken rode and trained Sharpaway to win and she became his foundation broodmare.
Accepting his award, Parkhill said: “We’ve been very lucky. We got into a few nice fillies, and we raised some of them, and we put ourselves under quite a bit of pressure to hold on to the families, and I’ve been doing so ever since my dad gave up, and we’re kind of reaping the benefits of it. Luck plays a very big part of it: to get the horses to the sales, to get them into the right stables, especially with the National Hunt horses.”
Asked about how the breeding industry has changed over the decades, Parkhill said: “In the days when we started, there used to be three days of National Hunt yearling sales. Now there’s half a day. The whole emphasis seems to be on getting them there quicker. We like to bring them through to the store sales. It doesn’t always work, but it does sometimes.”
He credited the roles played by Lulu and their sons, Peter and Nicky. “It’s a family business,” he said. “This award means everything to me. I had no idea in the world that I was going to get this tonight. I’m absolutely delighted, and I thank Connolly’s Red Mills for doing this.”
Modest to a fault
If Parkhill accepted his award with modesty, then Hanly was downright adamant he was undeserving of the honour.
Winner of a monthly award through Ombudsman, now the highest-rated racehorse in the world, Hanly would have you believe his entire career in bloodstock has been down to chance, or the hard work of others.
A short-list of Group 1 winners he has either bred, bred in partnership or produced through Ballyhimikin would include Halfway To Heaven, Society Rock, Victoria Road, Queen’s Logic and, most recently, Estrange. It is no wonder that Ballyhimikin Stud regularly sells yearlings for seven-figure sums.
Almost embarrassed to be receiving his award, Hanly acknowledged the significant input by his wife Charlotte into the stud’s success. “I’m representing a team here,” he said. “It’s people like Helen and Dermot (Frisk) Jones at home, who are there right now, checking horses and again in the morning. I am just a maintenance man, keeping busy.”
Pressed for the secret to being a leading breeder, he added: “We persevere. I don’t give up easily. I keep trying. There’s a lot of bad days, as everybody here knows. The ups are hugely up and the downs are hugely down.
“But if you surround yourself with good people, you can do anything.
“I wake up and ask myself how did we breed such a good horse? Many people here have bred wonderful horses. They will know that you just have to keep going. The Aga Khan team made a wonderful film a few years ago, A Game of Chess with Nature. If anyone here hasn’t seen that film, do watch it. It’s so beautifully done. It’s really inspires.
“The gene pool is quite small. The confetti goes up in the air and we all have a chance. It’s enough to get you out every day.”
Award winners
Connolly’s Red Mills/The Irish Field Breeder Of The Month & Breeder Of The Year Award Winners
June 2025: James Hanly (Ombudsman)
July 2025: Jim Bolger (Historic Heart)
August 2025: Denis Brosnan (Diego Velazquez)
September 2025: Derek & Gay Veitch (Big Mojo)
October 2025: Con Marnane (Powerful Glory)
November 2025: William Kennedy (Ethical Diamond)
December 2025: Paul Cunningham (The Jukebox Man)
January 2026: Liam Walsh (I’ll Sort That)
February 2026: David and Grace Fenton (Oscars Brother)
March 2026: Matthew Fogarty (Old Park Star)
April 2026: Ken Parkhil (Bob Olinger)
May 2026: John Magnier (True Love)
Flat Breeder of the Year: James Hanly
NH Breeder of the Year: Ken Parkhill
CONNOLLY’S Red Mills will sponsor The Irish Field’s Breeder of the Month competition for the 22nd year in 2026-’27.
Confirming the deal, Gareth Connolly said: “It is great for us to be able to acknowledge breeders in such an intimate setting, to have conversations with people that maybe we wouldn’t necessarily get a chance to talk to. Every year there are different faces, because the competition is so high. Irish breeders box way above their weight in terms of the global industry. For us to be associated with them, as stakeholders within the industry, is a privilege and honour.
“My late grandfather Joe used to say ‘You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear’. It starts with the raw material, and the breeders are the raw material for our industry and Ireland sets the bar high. I think that’s evident tonight. We’re honoured to be associated with this event and hopefully will be for many more years to come.
“Thank you very much to all of our customers and, to anybody who’s not a customer, we’re open for business.”