South Africa's Ipi Tombe scoops two ERA Awards

Ipi Tombe, the brilliant South African mare, was a major winner at last night's glittering ERA Awards night held at the Emirates Towers Godolphin Ballroom.

Trained by leading South African trainer Mike de Kock, Ipi Tombe was unbeaten in her three UAE starts which included a record-breaking performance in the Group 1 Dubai Duty Free on Dubai World Cup night.

A towering effort that has been recognised in full with two prestigious awards including the Nashwan Award for Thoroughbred Horse of the Year and an award for Best Performance by an Overseas horse.

The winner of the Nashwan Thoroughbred Horse of the Year is determined by the votes of ERA Officials, trainers, assistant trainers, jockeys and selected media. To be eligible as a nominee the horse must have won a race in the UAE and run more than twice.

This year's other nominees included Estimraar, Firebreak, State City, Moon Ballad and Victory Moon.

Bopp Moon, trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, was voted as the Alanudd Purebred Arabian Horse of the Year following his win in the Dubai Kahayla Classic in March.

Nominations for the Award also included Big Easy, Jiyush, Parador and Saklawi Jadrane.

Commenting on the Awards, Emirates Racing Association Council Member, Ali Saeed Bilhab said: "The performances of Bopp Moon and Ipi Tombe showed them as the outstanding horses of the season and they thoroughly deserved their award, as do all the recipients of this evenings ERA Awards."

Owner and trainer of the year awards were decided upon by the highest percentage of winners to runners throughout the season.

The Alanudd Award for the Purebred Arabian Owner of the Year went to Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance and Industry, who had 97 qualified runners and 20 winners giving him a strike rate of 20.61 percent.

The Alanudd Award for Purebred Arabian Trainer of the Year went to Yancy Carter Jr with 13 winners from 70 qualified runners and a strike rate of 18.5.

The Nashwan Award for Thoroughbred Owner of the year went to Godolphin who had 10 winners from 42 runners, while the Nashwan Award for Thoroughbred Trainer of the Year went to Saeed bin Suroor.

The Steve Cauthen Award, which honours riding excellence throughout the racing season and is determined by points accumulated, went to Gary Hind.

Richard Mullen finished a close second with Richard Hills third.

And the winners are...
* Alanudd Award for Purebread Arabian Owner of the Year - Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum
* Nashwan Award for Thoroughbred Owner of the Year - Godolphin
* Alanudd Award for Purebread Arabian Trainer of the Year - Yancy Carter Jr
* Nashwan Award for Thoroughbred Trainer of the Year - Saeed bin Suroor
* ERA International Award for Best Performance by an Overseas Trained Horse - Ipi Tombe (ZIM) (DDF)
* Steve Cauthen Award - Gary Hind
* Alanudd Award for Purebread Arabian Horse of the Year - Bopp Moon
* Nashwan Award for Thoroughbred Horse of the Year - Ipi Tombe (ZIM)