2004 TBA Award Winners announced

Breeders ranging from Prince Khalid Abdullah´s mighty Juddmonte Farms to Sue Mills´s one mare breeding operation are among the Thoroughbred Breeders´ Association award winners for 2004

The 2004 Flat season was an excellent one for Juddmonte Farms, which takes the Queen´s Silver Cup for leading British-based Flat breeder for the third year in succession.

Group One victories for Powerscourt and Quiff enabled Juddmonte to see off stiff competition from Cheveley Park Stud in terms of the most prize money won in Britain and Ireland from horses normally resident in the UK.

However, Cheveley Park Stud gains more than ample compensation, courtesy of Pivotal who was conceived at the stud as well as standing there.

The stallion scoops both the BBA Silver Cigar Box, for being the leading British-based stallion in terms of earnings (£1.49 million), and the Barleythorpe Stud Cup for the leading British-based stallion in terms of individual winners (52 individual winners of 85 races).

His main flag bearers in 2004 included Group One Pretty Polly Stakes heroine Chorist, Ringmoor Down, Pivotal Point and Windsor Knot.

Dubai Millennium (GB), whose life was cut so tragically short, saw off a strong challenge from another Dalham Hall stallion Diktat to take the Tattersalls´ Silver Salver for leading British-based first season Flat sire.

Dubai Millennium (GB) had 10 individual winners of 12 races worth £255,378, with his best performer being the Group One National Stakes winner Dubawi.

Kirsten Rausing´s Alouette (GB) scoops the H J Joel Silver Salver for broodmare of the year. The grey daughter of Darshaan was responsible for the 1999 and 2000 Champion Stakes winner Alborada and enjoyed further success in 2004 with Alborada´s full-sister Albanova, a three-time Group One winner in Germany.

The TBA Silver Rose Bowl for Flat breeder of the year goes to Lord Derby´s Stanley House Stud, in recognition of the brilliant achievements of Ouija Board. The three-year-old Cape Cross filly was the real star performer of 2004, with four victories including the Epsom Oaks, Irish Oaks and Breeders´ Cup Filly & Mare Turf.

Another star filly last season was Attraction, who became the first filly to complete the Newmarket and Irish 1,000 Guineas double, as well as enjoying success in two further Group One contests, the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Sun Chariot Stakes at Newmarket. In recognition of these outstanding feats, her breeder the Duke of Roxburghe´s Floors Stud receives the Flat Special Merit Award.

A third filly to light up Flat racing in 2004 was Soviet Song, who recorded three Group One victories in the Falmouth Stakes, Matron Stakes and the Sussex Stakes, beating the colts in the last-named. Her owner, the Elite Racing Club, takes the Langham Cup for small Flat breeder and is the first owners´ syndicate to do so.

Shade Oak Stud has enjoyed much success in the TBA Awards in the past with the late Gunner B and looks to have found a worthy successor in Alflora. The only sire in the top 40 to be as young as 15, Alflora takes the Whitbread Silver Salver, for the leading active British-based stallion in terms of earnings, and also the Horse & Hound Cup for individual chase winners.

He was responsible for 25 winners of 34 races and almost £400,000 in prize money, including the Grade One scorers Central House and Hand Inn Hand.

Laurel Diver is the only mare kept by Sue Mills on the family farm near Burford in Oxfordshire but the daughter of Celtic Cone managed three individual winners in the 2003/04 season, thus gaining the Dudgeon Cup for leading National Hunt broodmare.

The mare´s three winners were all trained by Martin Pipe - Grade Two Ascot Hurdle victor Mr Cool (Jupiter Island), his full-sister Miss Cool, successful in a Newton Abbott novice chase, and Your So Cool (Karinga Bay), winner of a Taunton novice hurdle.

David and Anne Hockenhull of Shade Oak Stud in Shropshire are the recipients of the Queen Mother´s National Hunt Achievement Award.

Since starting out 30 years ago, Shade Oak Stud has grown into the premier National Hunt stallion operation in Britain, first with Gunner B and now with Alflora.

It has not always been easy, particularly at the start, for the stud which is supervised on a day-to-day basis by David and Anne´s son Peter and his wife Emma.

The awards will be presented at the TBA Awards´ Dinner at the Churchill Hotel in London on Tuesday, January 11, when the winners of two Special Awards for contributions to the British breeding industry will be announced.

Philip Freedman, the Chairman of the TBA, said: 'It is tremendous to see British breeders rewarded for all their hard work over the past year.

'This year´s awards go to a wide range of breeding operations, both large and small, and it is pleasing to have such diversity.'

For further information, please contact Louise Kemble, Chief Executive of the Thoroughbred Breeders´ Association, on 01638 661321.

TBA AWARDS´ 2004

1. The Queen´s Silver Cup - Prince Khalid Abdullah´s Juddmonte Farms won The Queen´s Silver Cup (earnings in GB and Ireland) for a third consecutive time.

2. The BBA Silver Cigar Box - The progeny of Cheveley Park Stud´s Pivotal earned nearly £1.5 million in 2004 to reward his connections with the BBA Silver Cigar Box.

3. The Barleythorpe Stud Cup - It takes a very special stallion to land both the BBA Silver Cigar Box and the Barleythorpe Stud Cup which is for the greatest number of individual winners and Pivotal recorded 52 winners who between them accounted for 85 races.

4. The Tattersalls´ Silver Salver - Darley-bred Dubawi ensured that Dubai Millennium (GB) won the Tattersalls´ Silver Salver.

5. The H.J. Joel Silver Salver - Alborada and Albanova are two exceptionally talented grey own-sisters, home-bred by Kirsten Rausing of Lanwades Stud, and their dam, Alouette (GB), has been awarded the H.J. Joel Silver Salver.

6. The TBA´s Silver Rose Bowl - A great advertisement for British breeding, Lord Derby´s Stanley House Stud has won the TBA´s Silver Rose Bowl thanks to his only horse in training, Ouija Board.

7. The TBA Special Merit Award - Another superlative home-bred filly is the Duke of Roxburghe´s Attraction, who has earned Floors Stud, near Kelso, on the Scottish borders, this discretionary special merit award.

8. The Langham Cup - The extraordinary bonanza of multiple Group/Grade One winning British-bred fillies and mares during 2004 continued with Soviet Song who earned her owners, the Elite Racing Club, the Langham Cup.

9. The Whitbread Silver Salver - Alflora, who stands at Shade Oak Stud, wins the Whitbread Silver Salver for the 2003/04 season with earnings of nearly £400,000.

10. The Horse & Hound Cup - Alflora also takes the Horse & Hound Cup for the greatest number of individual chase winners - 12 winners of 16 races to be precise.

11. The Dudgeon Cup - Laurel Diver, the solitary broodmare owned by Sue Mills from Burford in north Oxfordshire, has won the Dudgeon Cup.

12. The late Queen Mother´s National Hunt Achievement Award - For their perseverance and dedication in establishing Shade Oak Stud as Britain´s premier National Hunt stallion stud, David and Anne Hockenhull have won the late Queen Mother´s National Hunt Achievement Award.