Hurricane Fly: faces five in the battle to be crowned HRI Horse of the Year

 PICTURE: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos),  BY TONY O’HEHIR 5:18PM 18 NOV 2013 

HURRICANE FLY, who set a world record for Grade 1 or Group 1 victories when achieving his 17th top-level success at Punchestown on Sunday, is among the six nominations in the Horse of the Year category for the Horse Racing Ireland annual awards.

Winner of the award in 2011, Hurricane Fly is joined on the list by Dawn Approach, winner of the Qipco 2,000 Guineas and the St James’s Palace Stakes, dual Group 1 winner Declaration Of War, Magician, who landed the Irish 2,000 Guineas and the Breeders’ Cup Turf,  Quevega, who scored her fifth consecutive Cheltenham Festival win in March, and Sir Des Champs, who won two Grade 1 chases last season.

The nominations for the Flat award are Jim Bolger, Aidan O’Brien, Joseph O’Brien, Kevin Manning and Johnny Murtagh, while Willie Mullins, Davy Russell, Ruby Walsh, Tony Martin and Bryan Cooper are the quintet in the running for the National Hunt award.

Those in contention for the point-to-point award are Derek O’Connor, Jamie Codd, Gordon Elliott, Rodger Sweeney and Declan McNamara.

Voting for the 2013 awards, which will be presented at a lunch at  Leopardstown racecourse on December 9, will be conducted by the racing and sporting media.

In a departure from previous years, members of the public will have the opportunity to vote for the outstanding achievement award through a new HRI Awards app, which will be available for download from iTunes and Google Play later this week.

The app also contains information about the awards and each of the nominees, an image gallery, all the latest news and will also allow members of the public to watch the awards live.

Nominees for the outstanding achievement award are trainers Charles Byrnes, Dot Love, Eddie Lynam, Willie McCreery, Joanna Morgan and Michael Winters and jockeys Chris Hayes and Barry Cash.

The racecourse of the year award, won by Ballinrobe last year, will be chosen by the Racegoers Consultative Forum, while the contribution to industry award will be announced at the awards ceremony.

HRI chief executive Brian Kavanagh said: “The HRI awards acknowledge excellence in the horseracing industry, where Ireland continues to achieve enviable success in a highly-competitive international arena.

“We have some of the best breeders, owners, trainers and jockeys and it’s important to recognise this success.

“A highlight this year was achieving a record-breaking 14 Irish-trained winners at Cheltenham and eight Irish-trained winners at Royal Ascot.”

fonte: RacingPost