THE IRISH FIELD BREEDER OF THE YEAR AWARD AUGUST 2009/2010

BALLYMACOLL STUD NAMED CONNOLLY'S RED MILLS/THE IRISH FIELD BREEDER OF THE YEAR


An emotional Peter Reynolds was genuinely shocked last night when the announcement was made that Ballymacoll Stud was the Connolly's Red Mills/The Irish Field Breeder of the Year winners for 2009/2010. The award was presented at a dinner held in Kildare and the presentation was made by Joe Connolly of Red Mills and The Irish Field's managing editor Leo Powell.



Ten of the 12 monthly award winners were on hand to also accept their awards. These awards are voted on by the public, while the breeder of the year is selected from the final dozen by a panel of industry leaders.



"I never expected this. I was certain someone else would be named as the winner" was the immediate reaction of Reynolds who has been at the helm of Ballymacoll for almost 40 years. He was joined on the evening by his wife Wendy, daughter Caroline and son-in-law David Ledwith.



Ballymacoll Stud is celebrating 50 years in its present ownership in 2010 and this award was given to honour Conduit's second win in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Turf. Conduit is the third individual Breeders' Cup winner for Ballymacoll, following Pilsudski and Islington.



The Connolly's Red Mills/The Irish Field breeder awards were initiated in May 2005 and Ballymacoll Stud is the fifth winner of this prestigious prize. Previous winners were David and Diane Nagle's Barronstown Stud for Yeats, Jim Bolger for Teofilo, Seamus and Trish Burns' Lodge Park Stud for New Approach and Mrs Ling Tsui's Sunderland Holdings for Sea The Stars.



The monthly award winners were:



Joan Browne for Paco Boy (June 2009)



Seamus Burns' Lodge Park Stud for Alfred Nobel (July 2009)



Denis and Catherine O'Flynn's Old Carhue Stud for Termagant (August 2009)



Lady O'Reilly Joshua Tree and Chinese White (September 2009)



Tom Twomey for Lahaleeb (October 2009)



Ballymacoll Stud for Conduit (November 2009)



Kay Browne and John Lenihan for Joncol (December 2009)



Emma Jayne Gallagher for An Cathaoir Mor (January 2010)



Pat Whyte for Citizen Vic (February 2010)



Owen and Larry Flynn for Imperial Commander (March 2010)



Maurice Stack for Captain Cee Bee (April 2010)



William Kennedy's Tullpark Ltd for Bethrah (May 2010)



Joe Connolly and Leo Powell both spoke about the significance of the awards and the important links established between their two iconic brand names. The Irish Field celebrated 140 years in business in 2010, while Connolly's Red Mills was established 102 years ago.



For further details contact Leo Powell +353-1-4051100



Leo Powell, Managing Editor, The Irish Field, Irish Farm Centre, Bluebell, Dublin 12, Ireland leopowell@theirishfield.ie



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