15.05.07 - RACING AT AINTREE, EVENTS

Aintree winners honoured at Anglo-Irish Jumps Awards

Clive Smith’s phenomenal chaser Kauto Star took the plaudits and a clutch of honours, including the Horse of the Year title, at the second annual Anglo-Irish Jump Racing Awards Ceremony, which was held in London on May 14.

The Paul Nicholls-trained gelding’s 2006/2007 campaign began at Aintree in October with a smooth victory in the Grade Two Bonusprint.com Old Roan Chase over two and a half miles and ended with further triumph in the totesport Gold Cup at Cheltenham. It has been reported that Kauto Star could start off his 2007/08 campaign in the same Aintree Grade Two contest.

Kauto Star, whose connections collected £200,000 for winning the Racing UK Order Of Merit, took four individual titles in all after going through the season unbeaten in six races from two miles to three and a quarter miles, including the Tingle Creek Chase (two miles) and the King George VI Chase (three miles).

His overall rating of 179 was seven pounds higher than Exotic Dancer - who scored a stunning victory in the Betfair Bowl at Aintree in April - and easily secured the Champion Three Mile + Chaser title.

Kauto Star was also named Champion Two Mile Chaser and Champion Two and a Half Mile Chaser, with official ratings of 176 and 175 over those respective distances.

Mighty Man, runaway winner of the John Smith’s Liverpool Hurdle at Aintree’s Grand National Meeting, has been unveiled as the Champion Two and a Half Mile + Hurdler.

The Henry Daly-trained seven-year-old achieved an official rating of 170 for his success in the Grade Two extended three-mile contest at Aintree, which makes him the top-rated hurdler in training, 2lb superior to third-placed Inglis Drever, winner of the Ladbrokes World Hurdle at Cheltenham, and 4lb higher than Smurfit-Kappa Champion Hurdler Sublimity.

Mighty Man’s stunning 13-length defeat of Black Jack Ketchum in the John Smith’s Liverpool Hurdle was his third victory in as many years at Aintree’s John Smith’s Grand National meeting.

Katchit’s impressive four-length win over Punjabi in the Grade One John Smith’s Anniversary Four-Year-Old Novices’ Hurdle at the Grand National meeting was enough to earn the Alan King-trained four-year-old a rating of 159 and the accolade of Champion Novice Hurdler.

BHB Chairman Paul Roy, and John Moloney, Senior Steward of the Irish National Hunt Steeplechase Committee, presented the awards at a ceremony attended by over 230 guests including leading owners, trainers and jockeys.

Roy commented: "This, like so many others over the 2006/07 season, was Kauto Star's day. Horses like him do not come along very often, and are to be cherished. To be top-rated in every distance category is an outstanding achievement, and he was a unanimous choice as Horse of the Year. The Awards are a great celebration of Jump Racing, and the close bond between Britain and Ireland."