Champion conditional Jack Kennedy© Photo Healy Racing
The 2015/16 Irish National Hunt season came to an end at Punchestown this afternoon and Horse Racing Ireland Chairman Joe Keeling made presentations to the season’s leading owner, trainer, jockey, amateur rider, lady rider and conditional rider.
Gigginstown House Stud won the Champion Owner title for the fourth time and with 185 winners, Willie Mullins was crowned Champion Trainer. Ruby Walsh received the Champion Jockey title for a record 11th time and Patrick Mullins won his ninth Champion Amateur award, beating Nina Carberry who again took the Leading Lady Rider title. Jack Kennedy was honoured as Champion Conditional Jockey.
With notable wins for Rogue Angel in the BoyleSports Irish Grand National and the Guinness Kerry National, Don Cossack in the JNWine.com Champion Chase and Don Poli in the Lexus Chase, owners Gigginstown House Stud retained their Champion Owner title. Gigginstown House Stud had previously won the title in the 2009/10 and 2012/13 seasons.
Willie Mullins enjoyed another fantastic season and included in his final tally of 185 winners were 20 Grade 1 wins for the likes of Douvan, Faugheen, Don Poli, Bellshill and Djakadam.
With 105 winners, Ruby Walsh is Champion Jockey for the 11th time, a new record. He ends the season 11 winners clear of nearest rival Bryan Cooper, with Andrew Lynch taking third place in the title race ahead of Mark Walsh and Barry Geraghty.
Patrick Mullins has again dominated in the amateur ranks and is the leading rider for the ninth time with 49 wins. Patrick won the title of Champion Amateur Rider for the first time in 2007/2008 and has retained it every season since. Mullins is quickly closing in on 450 career winners as he chases Ted Walsh’s record tally of 545.
Nina Carberry was awarded the Mary Hyde Perpetual Cup after winning the Leading Lady Rider Award with 20 wins, three ahead of Sarah O’Brien. Wendy O’Leary, a niece of Mary Hyde, presented Nina with the Cup. When Mary Hyde died, her employers Guinness commissioned the Mary Hyde Trophy in her memory and it has been presented to each Leading Lady Rider since 1974. Katie Walsh rode her first Grade 1 winner on the Willie Mullins-trained Blow By Blow in the Attheraces.com Champion INH Flat Race at Punchestown on Wednesday evening and she finished third in the ladies championship with 15 winners.
Jack Kennedy turned 17 last week and is rewarded for a remarkable debut season with the Champion Conditional Rider title. Kennedy enjoyed a red letter day at Navan in November where he rode his first winner over fences when taking the €100,000 Ladbrokes Troytown Handicap Chase on the JP McManus-owned Riverside City, trained by Gordon Elliott. Riverside City was the middle leg of a treble for Kennedy that same day, the first of his career. In all, he rode 44 winners during the season.
Horse Racing Ireland Chief Executive, Brian Kavanagh said: “I would like to congratulate all our National Hunt Champions. We’ve just witnessed another fantastic National Hunt season, which really showcased the abundance of talent among our trainers, jockeys and horses and we are very grateful to the owners who keep such exciting horses in training in Ireland. Today’s champions are all worthy winners and great ambassadors for our sport.”
