IMAGES from Formula 1, Grand Slam tennis, professional golf and the World Athletics Championships were among the winners at the recent World Sports Photography Awards and in amongst them was a picture taken at last year’s Laytown Races.

Morgan Treacy of the Inpho agency is a regular on the Irish racing circuit and he won the Equestrian category with his submission entitled Equine Reflection. It was taken during the seven-furlong race won by Distillate (red colours).

Morgan told us: “I’ve been covering Laytown for over 20 years and its uniqueness is what attracts so many photographers to it.

“There are great pictures to be got there and some of my photographic colleagues - like Pat Healy, Caroline Norris and Patrick McCann - have captured amazing images there over the years.

“What I try to do is not take the same picture year after year. That’s where the challenge is. Getting a picture of the horses and riders reflected in the water can make for a very dramatic image, but the conditions need to be right. No sun and you don’t get a reflection, too much wind and the ripples ruin any reflection and definitely not rain!

“Last year’s meeting gave all the seasons and them some. I positioned myself down near the start to get the horses when they are tightly packed together and had a bit of success, but not great.

“Light was coming in and out and changing by the minute, so towards the last race I had mostly accepted what I had got for the night and walked back up the beach to send my pictures to the papers.

“As the last race was due off, I stopped so as not to waste an opportunity and looked back at the oncoming runners. I was quite far back but realised if I zoomed in on the camera, it would compress the scene and cut out any distracting detail you would see on a wide angle.

“Crouching low over a puddle I managed to snap four or five frames as the runners were reflected, cutting out anything distracting leaving just the horses on the horizon mirrored in the puddle of seawater. The weather played its part also, brightening up just as the race went off.

“What I’m most happy about, apart from creating a nice image, was coming away from Laytown knowing I had captured something I hadn’t seen before. That, for me, is the goal.”

Web: worldsportsphotographyawards.com