Meath contenders for HRI awards

Meath trainer Tony Martin is among the 35 nominations for the Horse Racing Ireland Awards.

Other Meath contenders are Ger Lyons, Gavin Cromwell, Colin Keane, Gordon Elliott and Matthew Smith. 

Tony Martin is one of four nominees for the National Hunt Achievement Award along with Jamie Codd who became the winning-most amateur at the Cheltenham Festival, Gavin Cromwell who landed his first winner at the Cheltenham Festival with the record-breaking Espoir D’Allen and Davy Russell who became the first Irish-based jockey to win consecutive renewals of the Aintree Grand National.

Martin is in the running for his continued success in the Guinness Galway Hurdle which he won this year as he alnded  a third Galway Hurdle in six years when the John Breslin-owned Tudor City stormed to victory in the Thursday feature at Ballybrit.

The awards, which will be presented early next month, draw on nominees from across the Irish racing industry. 

A public vote will decide the outcome of the 2019 Ride of the Year winner with the contenders chosen by Pat Smullen and Barry Geraghty to be announced next week.
 
Eight category winners are decided by a ballot of the Irish racing media – Horse of the Year, National Hunt Award, National Hunt Achievement Award, Flat Award, Flat Achievement Award, Point-to-Point Award, Racecourse of the Year and the Emerging Talent Award which is a new category for 2019.
 GER LYONS AND COLIN KEANE BOTH NOMINATED

Members of the Racegoers Consultative Forum, the Irish Racehorse Trainers Association, the Association of Irish Racehorse Owners, the Irish Jockeys Association and the Irish Stablestaff Association will also vote on the Racecourse of the Year Award.
 
The six nominations for Horse of the Year are dual Aintree Grand National winner Tiger Roll, Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Al Boum Photo, also in the running is Kemboy, successful at the Aintree and Punchestown festivals and three-time Hatton’s Grace winner Apple’s Jade and multiple Group 1 winners on the Flat, Magical and Iridessa.

GAVIN CROMWELL NOMINATED

Trainers Willie Mullins, Gordon Elliott and Henry De Bromhead and jockeys Rachael Blackmore and Paul Townend are nominated in the National Hunt Award category. 

The Flat Award nominees are trainers Aidan O’Brien, Jessica Harrington, Ger Lyons and Joseph O'Brien and jockeys Donnacha O'Brien and Colin Keane.
 
There are six nominees for the Flat Achievement Award: Ken Condon, Shane Crosse, Seamie Heffernan, Denis Hogan, Wayne Lordan and Kilmessan trainer Matthew Smith who created Galway festival history and was a winner on Longines Irish Champions Weekend with One Cool Poet.
 MATTHEW SMITH NOMINATED

The Point-to-Point category is made up of Colin Bowe, Sam Curling, Barry O’Neill and Maxine O’Sullivan. 

A new category this year is the Emerging Talent Award and the nominees are Point-to-Point handler Peter Flood, joint-champion apprentice jockey Andrew Slattery, Joey Sheridan who rode 20 winners in his first season and Darragh O'Keeffe who rode out his claim this month and occupies second place in the jockeys’ championship.

GORDON ELLIOTT NOMINATED