ITBA Awards

It is just over a month since Dermot Cantillon and Meta Osborne were inducted into the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders Association Hall Of Fame at a memorable awards ceremony at the Heritage Hotel. Described as a "power couple" in the awards booklet, rarely are the Tinnakill House Stud owners seen without each other. After an hour spent in their company at their home near Forenaghts Stud in County Kildare, it is easy to see why Meta and Dermot have risen to many of the challenges that life, and the industry, presents....

There were few more deserving winners at this year's ITBA Awards than Amy Marnane. At just 30 years of age, Marnane has crammed a lot in. From breeding to pinhooking and even consigning horses under her own name, Marnane has accomplished plenty in the industry, which led to her scooping the Next Generation Award.  Of course, that award was tinged with sadness after the death of Marnane's mother, Theresa, at the age of 61 in December.  In this week's Q&A, Marnane discusses how the bloodstock industry has served as a...

The Irish Thoroughbred Breeders' Association (ITBA) has postponed its annual National Awards as a mark of respect following the death of ITBA chief executive Una Tormey on Tuesday.  The awards dinner had been set to take place this coming Saturday, January 27, at the Heritage in Killenard. A rearranged date will be announced in due course.  A statement released through the ITBA from chairman Cathy Grassick on Wednesday morning read, "It is with great sadness that I advise you that our esteemed friend and colleague Una Tormey passed away yesterday...

KILLENARD, Ireland--The trick to living a mostly happy life is to spend as much time as possible doing what you love. Simple, right? That's not to say that people in the bloodstock industry don't work incredibly hard. There is no real let-up in the work either, with almost wall-to-wall sales these days, foals on the way, mares to be covered, mud to be scraped off almost everything and, some mornings, ice to be broken on water troughs and buckets.  But it's a wonderful life nonetheless, and every now and then...

Year after year, the thread of his horsemanship snags another big prize in the web of his many different interests. And this spring Gabriel Duignan is back on the GI Kentucky Derby trail—this time as breeder, his Springhouse Farm near Lexington having started Forbidden Kingdom (American Pharoah) along the road that has already taken in two of the big Californian trials, latterly the GII San Felipe S. at Santa Anita last weekend.  Before you ask: disappointingly, there's no real story behind the nickname. When he started as a kid at...

The cream of Irish Thoroughbred breeding was recognised on Sunday night, with the headline act being Tally-Ho Stud's Tony and Anne O'Callaghan, who were inducted into the ITBA Hall of Fame. Last year's ITBA National Breeding & Racing Awards provided one of the bloodstock social media events of lockdown, but after two years of virtual presentations, the prestigious awards ceremony returned to its rightful home of The Heritage hotel in Co Laois. The O'Callaghans also took home one of the main Flat awards when being named the joint-winners of 2-year-old...

Dolphins swimming in the Venetian canals may have been pandemic fake news, but that the world will have benefited environmentally is one of the few upsides to the coronavirus crisis. What is not fake news is that many heads and livers will have been feeling better on Sunday morning than would otherwise be the case following the annual ITBA Awards, but that is the only benefit to missing out on what is always one of the social highlights of the racing year. Attendance at this event is not for the...

The Irish Thoroughbred Breeders' Association honored the human and equine stars of 2020 during a virtual ceremony for its National Breeding and Racing Awards on Saturday evening. The ITBA Hall of Fame inductee for 2020 was the Irish National Stud. Ireland's Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue accepted the honor on behalf of the Irish State, while President Michael D Higgins wrote a personal message to the Irish National Stud in recognition of its national importance. The popular Wild Geese Award, honoring an Irish national who has made an impact on...