Racing’s unsung heroes recognised in BRC awards
The unsung heroes of Brisbane’s thoroughbred racing industry have been recognised at the inaugural Brisbane Racing Club (BRC) Awards event held at Eagle Farm Racecourse last night.
The BRC Awards were founded to encourage and pay tribute to the trainers, jockeys, horses, trackwork riders and participants of the racing industry; in particular, those who rarely receive recognition in front of their peers.
Winners were picked based on their achievements throughout the 2010/ 11 season at either Eagle Farm or Doomben Racecourses.
Female jockey, Priscilla Schmidt, received the BRC Rising Star Award for her standout performance throughout the season. With her supermodel looks and string of successes, the budding 21-year-old jockey appears to have a very bright future in the racing industry.
Accolades for the Best Strike Rate were awarded to Kelso Wood (Trainer category), Damian Browne (Jockey category) and Mitchell Speers (Apprentice Jockey category).
Wood’s strike rate saw him train 19 winners from 116 starters, with 47% of his runners becoming placegetters. Browne rode 40 winners at a winning strike rate of one winner in every 4.3 rides whilst Speers rode ten winners at a strike rate of one winner in every 7.5 rides.
Sky Racing Cameraman, Joe Zoppi, received an Industry Contribution Award alongside track work riders Dave Keogh and Bruce Ohlbrecht both of whom have shown dedication and devotion to the development of budding riders and horses.
Brad Herne received the Industry Encouragement Award in recognition of his training efforts in his first full season of training with a team of 8 horses in work at Eagle Farm. Brad trained four metropolitan winners this year.
Flagship Horse of the Year was awarded to Buffering who flew the flag for Brisbane racing in QLD and interstate. Buffering ran third to champion mare Black Caviar in the Group 1 BTC Cup earlier this year.
Jockey Chris Munce received the most gongs of the evening winning the Brisbane Metropolitan Jockey Premiership as well being awarded the Ambassador Travel Jockey Medal.
Munce has had a highly successful season having ridden 79.5 winners as well as winning the 2010 Group 1 Caulfield Cup.
The 2011 Premier Trainer Award went to Robert Heathcote for the third year in a row. This season Heathcote trained 63 winners at Eagle Farm and Doomben. He also trained winners on five of the six Brisbane Racing Carnival race days and ran fourth in the $1 million Group 1 AAMI Stradbroke with Buffering.
Justin Wood was named 2011 Premier Apprentice Jockey after riding 20 winners, despite a number of injuries and setbacks.
The winners were announced in front of hundreds of guests including LNP Leader, Campbell Newman and Councillor David McLachlan.
Each winner received a trophy and embroidered RM Williams vest.
BRC Chief Executive Stephen Ferguson said “The Brisbane Racing Awards are our way of saying thank you to those who dedicate an extraordinary amount of time and effort to the sport.
“These Awards allow us to personally recognise those that work behind the scenes to make racing the tremendous sport that it is,” said Mr Ferguson.
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