Magnier Family, O’Brien to be Honored by Longines, IFHA

The Magnier family and trainer Aidan O'Brien, the driving forces behind Coolmore and the Ballydoyle Racing Stable, have been selected as the recipients of the 2018 Longines and IFHA International Award of Merit which recognizes distinguished horsemen and horsewomen for lifelong contributions to Thoroughbred racing.

They will be honored on Aug. 14 in Dublin at an event to coincide with the launch of the 2018 Longines Irish Champions Weekend, which will take place at Leopardstown on Sept. 15 and the Curragh on Sept. 16.

Juan-Carlos Capelli, vice president of Longines and head of international marketing; Louis Romanet, chairman of the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA); and Brian Kavanagh, chief executive of Horse Racing Ireland, will take part in the ceremony. As the official partner and official watch of the IFHA, Swiss watchmaker Longines and the IFHA jointly created the Award of Merit in 2013 to honor public figures for their outstanding contribution to the world of horse racing.

Representing the Magnier family, MV Magnier, said, "We are most grateful to Longines and the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities for this recognition, and while the award may have the Magnier name on it we know that we are part of a much larger family which includes our partners, the Smiths and the Tabors, along with all the O'Briens at Ballydoyle. A big thanks to all."

Aidan O'Brien said, "Our thanks to the Magnier family, the Smiths and the Tabors for helping to make Ballydoyle what it is today. We are privileged to be associated with such wonderful people who leave no stone unturned as we try to get the best out of every horse.

"We really appreciate the tremendous and unfailing support of all the team at Ballydoyle, whose commitment is second to none, I would like to thank them all."

Kavanagh, also a vice chairman of the IFHA, said, "It is a source of great pride that those we honor today hail from Ireland, yet are recognized the world over. With its origins in County Tipperary, the Magnier family has built an unrivaled global operation that has been responsible for so many of the greatest equine stars the world has seen. In Aidan O'Brien, the Coolmore partners have the best trainer in the world, indeed a world-record holder after his exploits last year. Their successes do so much to promote Ireland as a global leader when it comes to breeding and racing, and I wish the Magnier family and Aidan, Annemarie and their family every success for the future."

Coolmore is a name synonymous with global success at the highest level, both as a breeding and racing entity. The world-renowned operation came together when John Magnier joined forces with Ballydoyle trainer Vincent O'Brien and business magnate Robert Sangster in the 1970s. The partnership's first major winner was The Minstrel in the 1977 Epsom Derby, and its first major homebred was Sadler's Wells. A top-class racehorse, upon his retirement Sadler's Wells rewrote the stud books by becoming the 14-time leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland.

Magnier is married to Vincent O'Brien's daughter Susan, and they have five children—Tom, Kate, JP, MV and Sammy Jo. He acquired both Ballydoyle and Coolmore after O'Brien's retirement and Sangster's death.

Aidan O'Brien (no relation to Vincent) became the trainer at Ballydoyle in 1996. That year, Coolmore's Desert King provided him with his first group 1 winner on the flat in the National Stakes at the Curragh. O'Brien had taken out his trainer's license in 1993 and got his start with National Hunt horses, most notably the legendary Istabraq, a son of Sadler's Wells.

In 2017, with 28 group/grade 1 victories, O'Brien broke the world record for top-level wins in a calendar year by a trainer, besting Bobby Frankel's mark of 25 set in 2003.  He has been crowned champion Irish Flat trainer in terms of prize-money won every season since 1999 and has won group/grade 1 races across the globe. The majority of O'Brien's big-race winners have carried the colors of the Coolmore partners to victory.

O'Brien and his wife, Annemarie, have four children—Joseph, Sarah, Ana and Donnacha—all of whom became jockeys. In 2012, O'Brien and Joseph became the first father-son/trainer-jockey pair to win the Epsom Derby (G1) with Coolmore's Camelot. In 2018, Joseph, now a trainer, defeated his father in the Irish Derby (G1) with Latrobe, with brother Donnacha in the irons.