LEADING owner JP McManus and the recently retired Kevin Manning were among those honoured at the annual Horse Racing Ireland Awards in Dublin on Monday night.
The 19-time champion National Hunt owner in Ireland, McManus won the Contribution to the Industry Award. JP McManus has been a dominant figure on the National Hunt ownership scene for over 40 years and his famous yellow and green colours have been carried to more than 4,000 wins.
Kevin Manning brought the curtain down on a remarkable career that spanned 40 years after riding a final winner for boss Jim Bolger at Galway in October. Manning claimed the Irish Racing Hero Award which will be sure to go down as another one of his career highlights. Champion apprentice in 1984 and 1987, 36 Group 1 winners, English and Irish Derby triumphs and a Hong Kong Cup win in 2004 are some other highlights already on the list.
The 10 winners at the 20th annual awards were:
Contribution to the Industry Award: JP McManus
Irish Racing Hero Award: Kevin Manning
Horse of the Year: Honeysuckle
Emerging Talent: Sam Ewing
National Hunt Award: Henry de Bromhead
National Hunt Achievement Award: John ‘Shark’ Hanlon
Point-To-Point Award: Liz Lalor
Flat Award: Billy Lee
Flat Achievement Award: Dylan Browne McMonagle
Ride of the Year: Wayne Lordan
Honeysuckle was crowned Horse of the Year for the second consecutive year. She extended her winning run to 16 races as she remained unbeaten for a fourth season. That unbeaten run was broken at Fairyhouse on Sunday.
Sam Ewing, from Ballyclare, Co Antrim, won the Emerging Talent Award. Ewing started his career as an apprentice on the Flat and has established himself as a budding dual-purpose jockey in a short space of time.
Henry de Bromhead took the National Hunt Award after being the first trainer since Vincent O'Brien in 1949 and 1950 to claim back-to-back Champion Hurdle and Gold Cup doubles.
Honeysuckle was the Champion Hurdle heroine while A Plus Tard gave De Bromhead his second successive Cheltenham Gold Cup win.
John ‘Shark’ Hanlon is the winner of the National Hunt Achievement Award. He scored a notable hat-trick of wins with his new stable star, Hewick. The whirlwind year of 2022 has seen them claim the Bet365 Gold Cup at Sandown, the Tote Galway Plate, and famously, the American Grand National at Far Hills in October.
Liz Lalor takes the Point-To-Point Award having created history at Comea in February when she rode Read To Return to a record-breaking victory. Read To Return was her 110th winner between the flags and saw her become the highest-winning female rider in point-to-point history.
Billy Lee enjoyed a terrific season, pushing Colin Keane all the way in the jockeys’ championship and was crowned a worthy winner of this year's Flat Award. His season’s tally was easily the best of his career and included Group 1 wins on the Paddy Twomey-trained La Petite Coco and Pearls Galore.
Dual champion apprentice Dylan Browne McMonagle is the Flat Achievement Award winner. The Letterkenny jockey had another notable year and he retained his champion apprentice title with a final tally of 49 winners.
Last but not least, Wayne Lordan landed the 2022 Ride of the Year Award for his Irish Cesarewitch win aboard Waterville. This award was based on a public vote.