THE exploits of two Irish-trained fillies captured the imagination of the public and the members of the selection panel at the 2018 Cartier Awards, the racing industry’s premier accolades. The Jessica Harrington trained Alpha Centauri, a four-time Group 1 winner, was the outstanding filly of her generation in Europe and she duly captured the award in her age and sex category.

Her trainer was scaling mountains in New Zealand as the announcement was made, but there was no concealing the delight of Alpha Centauri’s owner breeder Maria Niarchos-Gouazé accompanied by her niece Electra.

Mrs Niarchos-Gouazé said: “2018 has been an incredible year. Alpha Centauri has given so much pleasure that her early retirement sent us into oblivion. Thank God that she is okay and able to reproduce.

“Her four consecutive victories in Group 1s in the [Irish] Guineas, Coronation Stakes, Falmouth and Jacques Le Marois will remain impregnated in our minds. I would like to thank the whole team - firstly those who raised her at Coolmore, Jessie and all her stable for training her, Colm [O’Donoghue] for riding her, Alan Cooper for managing her and last, but not least, Alpha Centauri herself.”

There was another home-bred success in the juvenile filly category when Group 1 Moyglare Stud Stakes heroine Skitter Scatter was named the winner. Anthony Rogers represented his mother Sonia and was accompanied on stage by trainer Patrick Prendergast. A delighted recipient, Rogers paid an emotional tribute to his late father, Captain Tim Rogers, who died in 1984.

“This is great. It means a lot to me and the family. I must just say one person who probably a lot of people have forgotten is my father. He got everything going and was an amazing man. This one is for my dad.”

This has been a memorable year for Sheikh Fahad and Qatar racing and they were winners on the double when Roaring Lion was firstly named the best three-year-old colt before landing the biggest equine award of the evening, Horse of the Year. He becomes the fourth Cartier Horse Of The Year in the last five years to be trained by John Gosden, following Kingman, Golden Horn and Enable.

The evening belonged to Gosden whose charges were voted champions in four divisions and for four different owners.

Purchased by David Redvers at Keeneland for $160,000, Roaring Lion enjoyed victories in three Group 1 contests over 10 furlongs, the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown Park, Juddmonte International at York and the QIPCO Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown before adding another when dropped down in distance to a mile for the QIPCO Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot.

Qatar Racing’s chairman Sheikh Fahad Al Thani accepted the top award and said: “By a long way, Roaring Lion has given me my best times in the sport. This means a lot for everyone in racing and these are the awards everyone wants to win.

“To have a Cartier Horse Of The Year is an unbelievable achievement by the whole team. John is an unbelievable trainer and a master of his art. I remember standing at the Craven and he said to me ‘this might be a little bit scary but don’t be disappointed and wait until the end the year.’ It was absolutely true.”

Roaring Lion also won the Cartier three-year-old colt award.

Gosden and his team were also lauded by Teddy Grimthorpe when he accepted the older horse award for last year’s Cartier Horse of the Year, Enable. The Khalid Abdullah-owned and bred daughter of Nathaniel is the eighth horse to win the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, twice, and the first to follow up with success in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf.

Lord Grimthorpe said: “Enable had the extraordinary will to overcome both adversity and adversaries - she is the Queen of Juddmonte.”

There was further success for Gosden with Stradivarius who won the Cartier Stayer Award. The four-year-old Sea The Stars colt went through 2018 unbeaten, with his five victories including the Group 1 Gold Cup at Royal Ascot and the Group 1 Qatar Goodwood Cup. His tremendous season saw him land the inaugural WH Stayers’ Million, winning a £1 million bonus for owner/breeder Bjorn Nielsen.

Gosden’s fourth award winning horse was another home-bred, Lord and Lady Lloyd Webber’s champion juvenile colt Too Darn Hot. The son of Dubawi is unbeaten in four outings, ending with success in the Group 1 Darley Dewhurst Stakes.

Lady Lloyd Webber, after accepting the award from Cartier’s Lauren Feniou along with her husband, said: “I never thought I would be up here again and especially with a colt because we don’t do colts - we try and sell colts. This is fantastic and very exciting. Really there has been a huge team behind Too Darn Hot and I just can’t thank everyone enough.”

Lord and Lady Lloyd Webber with Sheikh Fahad and his wife Melissa celebrating the successes of Too Darn Hot and Roaring Lion

The Cartier Sprint award saw honours going to Mabs Cross. Trained by Michael Dods for owner-breeders David and Emma Armstrong, the four-year-old Dutch Art filly capped her campaign with a victory in the strongest sprint run in 2018, the Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye de Longchamp.

Holding back tears, Emma Armstrong said: “As many of you know, we haven’t been in racing too long - 15 years. We are owner-breeders and we bred Mabs Cross. She was our 100th winner and out of our first winner, Miss Meggy. I just can’t thank everyone enough. We are a small family business up in Lancashire and Mabs Cross was owned and bred there. We were told we would never breed a Group 1 winner in Lancashire and now we have bred two!”

The Cartier/The Daily Telegraph Award of Merit went to David Oldrey who has been hugely influential in the administration of British horseracing. He is also a successful owner-breeder and racing historian.

Accepting the award, he said: “I think Halsbury’s win in the Cesarewitch gave me my greatest satisfaction as I had a bet on him and was able to live on the winnings for a year or three!

“I think if I have deployed any real skill, it has been in choosing friends. To have actually begun with Peter Walwyn when he was only in his second year and had trained only eight or 10 winners, and then to follow up 40 years later with Ralph Beckett when he hadn’t trained any winners, was a remarkable bit of luck.

“The whole thing has been enormous entertainment. Racing is a sport - of course it is also an industry, but above anything else it is a sport and that is what appeals it to me in particular.

“It means a considerable amount to me to win this award.”

Cartier award winners

Award of Merit: David Oldrey

Horse of the Year: Roaring Lion

Two-year-old colt: Too Darn Hot

Two-year-old filly: Skitter Scatter

Three-year-old filly: Alpha Centauri

Three-year-old colt: Roaring Lion

Sprinter: Mabs Cross

Stayer: Stradivarius

Older horse: Enable

CARTIER JURY 2018

Marcus Armytage, Richard Brown, Julia Budd, Alan Byrne, Ed Chamberlin, Francesca Cumani, Martin Cruddace, Sally Duckett, John Gosden, Maureen Haggas, Gina Harding, Steve Harman, Hugo Palmer, Leo Powell (The Irish Field), Phil Smith and Mark Souster