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A superb year for City Of Troy has been crowned at the Cartier Racing Awards with the Ballydoyle superstar named Horse of the Year.

The Aidan O’Brien-trained three-year-old becomes only the second horse after Frankel to receive the Cartier Two-Year-Old Colt and the Cartier Horse of the Year accolade in successive years following another eye-catching summer on the track.

The Betfred Derby winner also set a course record at York in the Juddmonte International and was an impressive winner of the Coral-Eclipse at Sandown.

Sea The Stars, recipient of the Cartier Horse of the Year award in 2009, is the only other colt to win all three races.

City Of Troy, who will now be retired to Coolmore Stud, is one of three horses trained by Aidan O’Brien to find himself among the award winners.

Kyprios, who was also in the running for Horse of the Year, has become the third horse after Persian Punch and Trueshan to regain the Cartier Stayer crown, having previously won the title in 2022.

The six-year-old won four consecutive Group 1s in 2024, including the Comer Group International Irish St Leger, before rounding off his campaign with G2 QIPCO British Champions Long Distance Cup.

Lake Victoria secured the Cartier Two-Year-Old Filly award after a faultless campaign that yielded G1 successes over six furlongs, seven furlongs and a mile, while

Porta Fortuna claimed the Cartier Three-Year-Old Filly prize after posting three consecutive G1 wins during a superb season, including two victories against her elders. 

Jessica Harrington, meanwhile, collected the Cartier/The Daily Telegraph Award Of Merit Winner 2024 having scaled the heights of three-day eventing before becoming one of the most successful trainers in Flat and National Hunt racing.

Harrington’s most recent of 13 G1 wins on the Flat came in last month’s Futurity Trophy at Doncaster with Hotazhell, the latest in an almost endless list of accolades during her 35-year career.

“People love to say ‘Oh, you’re a woman trainer, you’ve done this and you’ve done that’ but I’m a trainer”, she told Sky Sports Racing. 

“Rachael Blackmore has the same problem – she’s seen as a female jockey and if you ask her, she’ll say ‘I’m a jockey’. It’s a totally level playing field. We have no allowances for being a female – the horses do but we don’t!”

Cartier Racing Awards – Irish winners

• City of Troy (Aidan O’Brien) – Cartier Horse of the Year
• Kyprios (Aidan O’Brien) – Cartier Stayer
• Porta Fortuna (Donnacha O’Brien) – Cartier Three-Year-Old Filly
• Lake Victoria (Aidan O’Brien) – Cartier Two-Year-Old Filly
• Jessica Harrington – Cartier/Daily Telegraph Award of Merit