WEST CORK, IE – The Drimoleague Inn will play host to the annual trotting & harness racing awards night on Saturday night November 18th at 9 PM.
Every year presentations are made to honor both human and equine stars of the sport which has two distinct codes in one year.
From St Stephens Day to Easter Sunday saddle racing of pacers and trotters takes place on roads in the West Cork region .
Mid May signals the start of the turf racing with Inchadoney beach the opening venue for the Summer season .
This year the road racing season was cut short due to weather conditions and scarcity of entries with six meetings going ahead .
Drimoleague on St Stephens Day hosted the opening meeting and with mild weather the crowds flocked to this famous venue.
Tradition says that Durrus on New Years Day is next on the fixture list and again mild weather ensured a bumper Bank Holiday crowd.
Ballygurteen was followed by the big Memorial Day in Skibbereen with Dunmanway and finally Goleen ending the season on a high note .
Deirdre Goggin again won leading female jockey and her partnership with Saunders Paris was a match made in heaven and Saunders Paris was Road Horse of the Year.
Jamie Hurley took the overall jockey of the year with his father James getting the leading trainer award .
Inchadoney beach saw a well run meeting setting the standard for a successful year of turf racing. Honoring deceased members of harness racing is a very important part of the sport .
The George Deane and Paddy Connolly Memorials are long standing pacing handicap classics on the West Cork circuit and with the addition of The Red John O Donovan Memorial and the emergence of The Willie Bradfield Memorial there is plenty for horse owners and trainers to aim for and with support coming from the USA through Bill Donovan and others the sport is on an upward curve both here in Cork and nationwide.
The Willie Bradfield Memorial is promoted by Ballineen Race Committee and this meeting was to be the judged as best turf meeting overall .
Cruise Howard who tragically past away recently following an illness was the Pacer of The Year . Luke Kelleher was Top C Class Driver and was joint second to overall driver (Behind)Donal Murphy who is retained driver for IB Stables .His brother Tadhg was the leading trainer.
The Le Trot scheme has become very popular and Cupidon De Breteil taking totter of the year with Ecrin De Brusseres voted as three year old trotter.
Rhyds Panache owned by Chris O Reilly took the award for leading saddle pacer and his jockey Cian O Reilly was champion jockey.
Eoin Murphy, Chelsie O Driscoll , Ryan Manning and Oisin Quill were other jockeys to compete and will also get merit awards
Hurry Up Abi owned by John Manniong took three year old pacer accolade and was also voted as Mare of the year .
2017 saw the introduction of a few new awards .
Newcomers to our sport are always welcome and Richard Kingston , Anthony McCarthy and John O Mahony although all involved in the sport for a few years were honored as they began new careers as drivers this season .
People working behind the scenes in the sport are sometimes taken for granted .
Con O'Sullivan and Angela Hurley have been involved in the sport for decades and both will honored with Contribution to racing Merit Awards
The full list of awards reads as follows
ROAD RACING
Jockey – Jamie Hurley
Female Jockey – Deirdre Goggin
Horse – Saunders Paris
Traine- r – James Hurley
FIELD RACING
Jockey – Cian O'Reilly
Merit Awards – Oisin Quill, Chelsie O'Driscoll, Eoin Murphy,Sean Twomey, Ryan Manning
Pacer (Harness) – Cruise Howard
Pacer (Saddle) – Rhyds Panache
3 Year Old Pacer – Hurry Up Abi
Mare of the Year – Hurry Up Abi
Trotter – Cupidon De Breteil
3 Year old Trotter – Ecrin De Bruisseres
Driver – Donal Murphy
C Class Driver – Luke Kelleher
Trainer – Tadhg Murphy
Newcomers – Richard Kingston , Anthony McCarthy & John O Mahony
Best Turf Meeting – Ballineen
Contribution To Racing Merit Awards – Con O'Sullivan and Angela Hurley
by Tim Kelleher, for Harnesslink