Dylan Thomas crowned Cartier Horse Of The Year

16th November 2007

The fabulous six-time Group 1 winner Dylan Thomas (4c Danehill-Lagrion, by Diesis), who retires to Coolmore for the 2008 season, was crowned Horse Of The Year at the 2007 Cartier Awards in London on Wednesday night.

The award adds to a fabulous year for the son of Danehill that has included victories in the G1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, G1 Irish Champion Stakes and G1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

Dylan Thomas also won the Cartier Older Horse Award and Coolmore’s Christy Grassick was on hand to collect the prize.

"I think we have to make a mention of the previous winners of this award with whom we’ve been lucky to be associated - Peintre Celebre, Hurricane Run and Giant’s Causeway," said Grassick. "We’ve also been very lucky that Dylan Thomas was bred and raised at Coolmore so we are very proud of his achievements.

"We’re also proud of the team at Ballydoyle with Aidan and Anne-Marie (O’Brien) and also the team in our group - without those people we wouldn’t be here. They are sometimes forgotten but they need to be mentioned because their skill and dedication puts us all up here in the first place."

The 2007 Cartier Awards were dominated by the progeny of Coolmore stallions, who took six of the eight prizes.

Galileo’s son New Approach (2c Galileo-Park Express, by Ahonoora) won the Two-Year-Old Colt Award, while Montjeu provided the winner of the Three-Year-Old Colt Award in Authorized (3c Montjeu-Funsie, by Saumarez).

Dylan Thomas’s sire Danehill was also responsible for the Three-Year-Old Filly Award winner in four-time G1 scorer Peeping Fawn (3f Danehill-Maryinsky, by Sadler’s Wells) while it was a son of Sadler’s Wells, the brilliant Yeats (6h Sadler’s Wells-Lyndonville, by Top Ville) who landed the Stayer Award.