IRELAND enjoyed a spectacular night at the 34th Cartier Racing Awards at the Dorchester in London on Wednesday, with Irish-trained horses taking five of the eight equine awards, and Jessica Harrington receiving the Cartier/The Daily Telegraph Award of Merit.

Jessica Harrington has blazed a trail during her 35 years in training and the hugely successful dual-purpose handler again challenged convention when she accepted the award with a simple “thank you” before returning to her seat.

Coaxed into a few more words afterwards, she added: “It’s unbelievable. When Marcus [Armytage of The Daily Telegraph] rang me up to say that I had been awarded this and gave me the date, I said ‘I think I’m away then, I don’t think I will be able to come’. He said that I had too. It’s an absolute honour to get this award. I just look at the people who have been awarded it before and I think ‘God, how am I upsides all those people?’.

“I’ve been very lucky all my life. I’ve had a wonderful career and, every time I want to do something, I want to get better at it. It’s great to have all my friends and family here with me when you get something like this. When I was eventing, I had no thoughts of training racehorses – I didn’t start to do that until I got to a fair ripe old age and I’ve kept on going. One thing led to another and I was very lucky in my life – one door closed and another door opened. Whether it’s been a case of the right place at the right time.

“Peter Queally was a great help when I first started training, he was my first big owner to come in and say ‘right, let’s have some horses to do this and do this’. I ended up having a Cheltenham winner and that was the only thing to have – you want to have a Royal Ascot winner or a Cheltenham winner. Moscow Flyer was in an era of very good two-mile chasers and we had great fun training him. He was one of those horses that I didn’t really appreciate until he retired because, every time I ran him in a race, he either won it or fell over. He just kept on delivering.

“I’m mainly flat racing now and it’s fantastic. I’ve been very lucky because I’ve been supported by some wonderful owners on the flat and a lot of owner/breeders. We just have to keep on working and hoping I can keep on producing results for them.

“It was great to get a Group 1 with Hotazhell as we hadn’t had one for a few years and you are always striving to do that. When you get one again, you think it’s great to get that in the bag, but we actually want some more. We can always dream of classics and there are lots of things I still haven’t won, so I still dream and want to win.

“On National Hunt, I suppose there are three horses that stand out – Moscow Flyer, Jezki and Sizing John. On the flat, Alpha Centauri was just the most amazing filly. To then train her two siblings Alpine Star and Discoveries to win Group 1s was absolutely fantastic.

“I’d like to do more. We’d like to win more in France and Australia. I’m always pushing the boundaries and wanting to do more.”

City Of Troy won the evening’s premier equine accolade as he was crowned the Cartier Horse of the Year, in addition to the Cartier Three-Year-Old Colt award, after capturing the Betfred Derby, Coral-Eclipse and Juddmonte International during a superb summer.

Christy Grassick collected the Cartier Stayer prize on behalf of Moyglare Stud Farm, Sue Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith and Westerberg for Kyprios, who took the award for a second time. Lake Victoria took the Cartier Two-Year-Old Filly award following a faultless season that culminated with sensational displays in the Juddmonte Cheveley Park Stakes and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.

Porta Fortuna, trained by Aidan O’Brien’s son Donnacha, claimed the Cartier Three-Year-Old Filly award on the back of a season that saw impressive wins in the Coronation Stakes, Tattersalls Falmouth Stakes and Coolmore America “Justify” Matron Stakes.

AWARD WINNERS

Horse of the Year: City Of Troy

Three-Year-Old Colt: City Of Troy

Three-Year-Old Filly: Porta Fortuna

Older Horse: Charyn

Sprinter: Bradsell

Stayer: Kyprios

Two-Year-Old Colt: Shadow Of Light

Two-Year-Old Filly: Lake Victoria

Cartier/Daily Telegraph Award of Merit: Jessica Harrington