THE 25th Cartier Racing Awards in The Dorchester Hotel in London on Tuesday was an evening of high emotion. It spanned elation and joy to sadness, and more than a few of those on stage during the evening shed a tear.
Before an invited audience of 300, one human and eight equine awards were presented and the evening was overseen for the final time by Cartier UK’s honorary chairman Arnaud Bamberger. Most of the award recipients paid tribute to his championing of racing’s most illustrious awards and at the end of the evening the British Horseracing Authority chairman Steve Harman made a presentation. After receiving the painting of Frankel, a two-time Cartier Horse of the Year winner, Bamberger said: “That was not in the script! I am very touched and it meant a lot tonight for me. Thank you.” He added; “I just want to say I am overwhelmed by everyone’s presence here tonight, your friendship and your smiles. I hope you had a good time as that is what it is all about.
“Horseracing is a wonderful industry with wonderful people. I am very glad I was able to promote this sport with Cartier – I think we did well together. I hope we do well together for a long time more.”
The Cartier/Daily Telegraph Awards of Merit, chosen by the 16-person jury, was accepted by a much-surprised Jack Berry MBE. The 78-year-old former jockey and trainer is one of the most popular people in racing and he has raised a staggering amount of money throughout his lifetime to support injured jockeys.
He saw to it that £3.1 million was raised to open Jack Berry House this year and many tributes were paid on camera by colleagues and admirers.
Having thanked Cartier for the iconic trophy, he ended his acceptance speech with a promise. “I can assure you it will never end up in any car boot sale!”
A hugely emotional Anthony Oppenheimer, the 78-year-old owner/breeder of Golden Horn, was twice on stage to accept the awards for best three-year-old colt and Horse of the Year. On the latter occasion he was accompanied by his wife Antoinette, Emily and Arabella - two of his three daughters, trainer John Gosden and jockey Frankie Dettori.
After the first award he said; “Like a miracle, I find myself here today. I believe these awards are important to the horseracing industry and I make a special plea to Cartier and The Daily Telegraph that if they ever think of cancelling them – please don’t. They are so valuable to us all.”
After the Horse of the Year accolade he added; “I would like to thank my wife Antoinette, and forgive me for getting a bit emotional, but she supported me all the way in this exciting and stressful adventure.”
Explaining the choice of stud for a stallion career, he said: “It took a long time to decide what was going to be the most suitable stud for Golden Horn because the choices were difficult. But I think in the end, in going to Darley, he is going to one of the greatest studs in the world and will be very well looked after there.”
Coolmore enjoyed a stellar evening and collected three awards. They dominated the juvenile category, winning the colt’s prize for triple Group 1 winner Air Force Blue while the best two-year-old filly was the dual Group 1 winner Minding. M V Magnier paid special tribute to the team at Ballydoyle, but also spoke of the significance of the evening.
“The Cartier awards are a big thing for the industry and it is brilliant what Cartier have done.
“The awards mean a lot to everyone in the industry” he said. Paul Smith paid tribute to Pat Eddery during his acceptance speech for Minding. Referring to the epic battle between Grundy and Bustino, which he attended, he said of the 11-time champion jockey: “He was a hero that day and, to me, he has been a hero ever since. He is a great loss.”
The third Coolmore award was for the leading second-season filly Legatissimo and M V Magnier said of the filly, trained by his brother-in-law David Wachman: “It’s been a fantastic year and we look forward to having her again next year.”
Angus Gold accepted the award for best sprinter for Muhaarar and paid tribute to everyone involved with the horse and the Shadwell and Derrinstown organisations. He sent best wishes to Barry Hills who has not been well of late, recalling that the legendary trainer said of the colt at the start of the year: “even you lot can’t make a mess of this horse!”
David Redvers was on hand to pick up the award for Simple Verse, a rare three-year-old winner of the trophy for best stayer. “It is an absolutely joyous moment for Sheikh Fahad and for all the team at Qatar Racing to be in this position,” he told the audience. “Who would have thought that a filly who broke her maiden on the all-weather in February and got beat off a mark of 77 in April would end up taking this award?”
The French were dominant in the older horse category and Solow, winner of five Group 1 races in an unbeaten 2015 season, was a worthy winner.
CARTIER AWARD WINNERS
Award of Merit: Jack Berry MBE
Horse of the Year: Golden Horn
Two-year-old colt: Air Force Blue
Two-year-old filly: Minding
Three-year-old filly: Legatissimo
Three-year-old colt: Golden Horn
Sprinter: Muhaarar
Stayer: Simple Verse
Older horse: Solow
JURY PANEL
MEMBERS
Marcus Armytage (The Daily Telegraph), Simon Bazalgette, Alan Byrne (Racing Post), Graham Cunningham, Lord Derby, Lisa Hancock, John Oxx, Leo Powell (The Irish Field), Ben Sangster, Paul Struthers, Peter Thomas (Racing Post), Roger Varian, Lady Carolyn Warren, Richard Wayman, Julie Wood and Chris Wright