Dylan awarded top honour

Dylan Thomas was named Cartier Horse Of The Year at the 2007 Cartier Racing Awards, presented in London on Wednesday evening.

The four-year-old Danehill colt, trained by Aidan O'Brien, proved incredibly resilient this year, racing in Group One company every month from April to October and winning four of them, including Europe's greatest middle distance race, the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

His jockey that day, Kieren Fallon, called him the best horse he has ever ridden and Dylan Thomas' exploits may not have finished, with the Japan Cup on 25 November a possibility.

In the Horse Of The Year category, Dylan Thomas came out ahead of an outstanding quartet, comprising Manduro, Ramonti, Authorized and Peeping Fawn, and he also takes the Cartier Older Horse Award by overcoming Manduro and Ramonti again, plus Yeats and Notnowcato.

The Ballydoyle team of trainer Aidan O'Brien and owners Sue & John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith had another tremendous year of success.

This is reflected by Peeping Fawn, the outstanding filly of her generation, taking the Cartier Three-Year-Old Filly Award from Darjina, Mrs Lindsay, Finsceal Beo and Light Shift, and Sue Magnier and Diane Nagle's Yeats, successful in the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot for the second year running, becoming a winner at the Cartier Racing Awards in successive years by gaining another Cartier Stayer title.

The six-year-old came out ahead of Allegretto, Le Miracle, Geordieland and Macleya.

Jim Bolger, last year achieved the memorable feat of capturing the Cartier Racing Awards for Two-Year-Old Colt and Two-Year-Old Filly with Teofilo and Finsceal Beo respectively. This year he again had the chance of winning both Cartier Awards.

His unbeaten dual Group One winner New Approach gained the accolade of Cartier Two-Year-Old Colt from Rio De La Plata, Kingsgate Native, Ibn Khaldun and Fast Company, while Saoirse Abu, along with Listen, Fleeting Spirit and Zarkava, just failed to hold off Natagora, trained in France by Pascal Bary and owned by Stefan Friborg, who is the 2007 Cartier Two-Year-Old Filly.

Vodafone Derby winner Authorized did his connections proud this year and the colt is named the Carter Three-Year-Old Colt of 2007 ahead of Cockney Rebel, Excellent Art, Literato and Soldier Of Fortune.

Red Clubs, winner of the Group One Betfred Sprint Cup at Haydock Park, collects the Cartier Sprinter Award in a category where the other nominations were Marchand D'Or, Kingsgate Native, Benbaun, Soldier's Tale and Sakhee's Secret.

The eight horse awards were decided by a tried and tested combination of points achieved in Pattern races, the views of racing journalists on Cartier's Racing Panel, and votes from readers of Racing Post and The Daily Telegraph.

The Pattern races counted towards 40 per cent of the total, with the Cartier Racing Panel's deliberations also having a 40 per cent share and the votes of the newspaper readers making up the final 20 per cent.

The invited audience of nearly 300 at the Cartier Racing Awards consisted of leading owners, trainers, jockeys, breeders, media and racing personalities.