Six 2009 Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association award winners were revealed Dec. 21, acknowledging the achievements of some of Britain’s most successful stud farms.
This year’s TBA awards will be presented in a new format, with the remaining winners announced at a dinner at Newmarket in June, following the TBA’s Annual General Meeting.
For the sixth time this century, Khalid Abdullah’s Juddmonte Farms has won the Queen’s Silver Cup, awarded to the leading British-based flat breeder who has accrued the most prize money in Great Britain and Ireland from mares normally residing in the United Kingdom.
Juddmonte secured the award for the second year in succession, having accrued £2,342,000 in prize money from the 61 victors of 95 races. Abdullah’s team was led by group I winners Midday (Nassau Stakes), Twice Over (Champion Stakes) and Special Duty (Cheveley Park Stakes).
The Juddmonte operation reaped further reward thanks to the excellent achievement of Oasis Dream. The Green Desert stallion was awarded the 2008 Tattersalls’ Silver Salver and followed up this year by clinching the BBA Silver Cigar Box as the leading British-based stallion according to flat earnings.
A resident at Abdullah’s Banstead Manor Stud, Oasis Dream’s domestic earnings of £2.86 million were the fourth-highest overall. The champion sprinter of 2003 proved versatile with regard to his progeny’s stamina potential. His 2009 star performer was homebred filly Midday, who rounded off a fantastic year with victory in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (gr. IT) over 10 furlongs.
Pivotal maintained his position as the top British-based stallion, taking his third successive Barleythorpe Cup for the leading flat sire in terms of individual winners. The Cheveley Park Stud stallion sired 78 individual winners in 2009, nine more than his nearest rivals, Kyllachy and Oasis Dream.
Oaks heroine Sariska, Lockinge Stakes victor Virtual and Haydock Park Sprint Cup winner Regal Parade were Pivotal’s group I scorers in Britain this year, while Siyouni landed the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere in France.
Dubawi, a classic-winning son of the late Dubai Millennium, won the 2009 Tattersalls’ Silver Salver as the leading British-based first season sire based on flat earnings. Sheikh Mohammed’s Dalham Hall Stud resident finished second in the overall list of new sires to Darley’s Shamardal, who stands at the Sheikh’s Kildangan Stud in Ireland.
Dubawi is from the sole crop of his sire and the standouts from the Darley homebred’s first runners were Doncaster’s group II winners Poet’s Voice and Sand Vixen.
In the world of jump racing, Kayf Tara enjoyed a notable 2009. The Darley stallion, resident at Overbury Stud, won the Whitbread Silver Salver as the leading active British-based National Hunt Stallion according to earnings.
A dual group I Ascot Gold Cup winner when racing for Godolphin, the Sadler’s Wells stallion was represented by progeny that earned over £680,000. His leading performers were the group II winners Carruthers, Kornati Kid, Clan Tara, and Tarablaze, while Kayf Aramis triumphed in the Pertemps Final at the Cheltenham Festival.
Kayf Tara has boarded at Overbury Stud since retiring from racing after his second Royal Ascot success in June 2000 and is about to embark on his 10th season as a stallion.
Simon Sweeting, manager at Overbury Stud, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to receive the Whitbread Silver Salver. He is still a very young horse, so to achieve this relatively quickly for a National Hunt stallion is great. The strength of horses that are standing in this country now, compared to what they have got in Ireland, is improving all the time, so the competition is getting hotter.”
The stallion Overbury, by Caerleon, collected the 2008 Whitbread Silver Salver and this year the Mickley Stud sire was awarded the Horse & Hound Cup as the leading active British-based National Hunt Stallion according to individual chase winners.
A high-class globe-trotter in his racing days on the flat for Sheikh Mohammed, Overbury has made his mark as a stallion and in the 2008/09 season he sired 16 individual chase winners of 27 races for prize money of £237,626. Perhaps his most recognizable runner is Ballyfitz, successful in the Pertemps Final at the 2008 Cheltenham Festival.
2009 TBA Awards
Queen’s Silver Cup (Leading British-based Breeder - Flat earnings) - Juddmonte Farms
BBA Silver Cigar Box (Leading British-based Stallion - Flat earnings) - Oasis Dream
Barleythorpe Cup (Leading British-based Stallion - individual winners) - Pivotal
Tattersalls’ Silver Salver (Leading British-based first season sire) - Dubawi
Whitbread Silver Salver (Leading Active British-based NH Stallion, earnings - Kayf Tara
Horse & Hound Cup (Leading Active British-based Stallion, individual chase wins) - Overbury
The following winners will be announced in 2010
TBA Silver Salver (Special Merit)
The Langham Cup (Small Breeder of the Year)
H J Joel Silver Salver (Leading British-based Flat Broodmare of the Year)
TBA Silver Rose Bowl (Flat Breeder of the Year)
Dudgeon Cup (NH Broodmare of the Year)
HM Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother’s Silver Salver (Outstanding contribution to National Hunt racing and breeding)
Duke of Devonshire Award
Dominion Award