Dual Derby hero Auguste Rodin voted Horse of the Year at HRI Awards ceremony in Dublin

The dual Derby hero Auguste Rodin became the first Flat winner of the Horse of the Year award at the annual Horse Racing Ireland Awards since Alpha Centauri in 2018 at a ceremony at the Mansion House in Dublin on Monday night. 

Honeysuckle won the coveted award in 2021 and 2022, while Tiger Roll and Al Boum Photo were successful in 2019 and 2020, but after doing the Derby double at Epsom and the Curragh before landing the Irish Champion Stakes and Breeders' Cup Turf, Auguste Rodin was a very worthy winner in 2023. 

The career of Jessica Harrington, the most successful female trainer in the history of Irish racing, was recognised by the Contribution to the Industry award. 

The hugely popular dual-purpose trainer, one of the very few to have won a Gold Cup, Champion Chase and Champion Hurdle, as well as Classics on the Flat and Royal Ascot winners, sent out 25-1 shot Villanova Queen to win the Kensington Palace Fillies' Handicap at the royal meeting this year. 

Davy Russell picked up the Irish Racing Hero award after calling time on his stellar career in the saddle for a second time at the Grand National meeting at Aintree in April, signing off on the same day that he steered Irish Point to victory in the Grade 1 Mersey Novices´ Hurdle. He won the Grand National twice on Tiger Roll and the Gold Cup on Lord Windermere, one of his 25 Cheltenham Festival victories. 

One of the great anomalies of Irish racing was the fact Paul Townend had never won a HRI award before, but that is no longer the case as he deservedly picked up the National Hunt award after a sensational 2023 in which he was crowned champion jockey for a sixth time.

Paul Townend: won his first HRI awardCredit: Patrick McCann

His winning rides on Galopin Des Champs in the Cheltenham Gold Cup and I Am Maximus in the Irish Grand National were both hailed as 'incredible' by his boss Willie Mullins. 

The National Hunt Achievement award went to John Kiely, who celebrated his first Cheltenham Festival winner at the age of 85 when A Dream To Share won the Weatherbys Champion Bumper under teenager John Gleeson, who won the Emerging Talent award. 

The Flat award once again went to Aidan O'Brien following his astonishing 2023, while there could only ever have been one winner of the Flat Achievement – Wesley Joyce. 

He recovered from a life-threatening fall at the 2022 Galway Festival to ride 11 winners from just 98 rides in 2023. It was by far the most heartwarming story of the whole season. 

A public vote determined the winner of the Ride of the Year award and it went to Amy Jo Hayes for her front-running display on Redstone Well in the Nasrullah Handicap at Leopardstown in July. 

Davy Russell and Fran Berry nominated six rides and Hayes’s effort topped an online poll of over 2,600 votes by the narrowest of margins. 

Barry O'Neill won the Point-to-Point award after he was crowned champion rider for the seventh straight year, with his 64 winners almost double the number of any other rider, while Ballinrobe won the Racecourse of the Year award for a second time.

The HRI Awards winners 

Horse of the Year Auguste Rodin
Contribution to the Industry Jessica Harrington
Irish Racing Hero Award Davy Russell
Emerging Talent John Gleeson
National Hunt Award Paul Townend
National Hunt Achievement John Kiely
Point-to-Point Award Barry O'Neill
Flat Award Aidan O'Brien
Flat Achievement Award Wesley Joyce
Ride of the Year Amy Jo Hayes
Racecourse of the Year Ballinrobe

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