COVID-19 restrictions may have forced the TBA’s National Hunt Awards to be delayed and then held online but this did not stop Overbury Stud from making its presence felt during an evening celebrating the best of British jumps breeding.
Kayf Tara’s retirement was announced recently but, if recent seasons are anything to go by, his offspring will continue to be a major force for some years to come, and their exploits through the 2019/20 season have once again led to him being doubly decorated at the TBA Awards.
For a staggering ninth year in a row our stalwart was awarded the Whitbread Silver Salver for the leading active British-based National Hunt sire. Kayf Tara was also the winner of the Horse & Hound Cup for the sixth consecutive year for siring the highest number of individual chase winners in 2019/20 among the active stallions in Britain.
Two of Kayf Tara’s leading runners were also recognised at the virtual awards ceremony, which was hosted by Nick Luck via Zoom. Jerry Hinds of Pleasure Palace Racing received the Overbury Stud Trophy as the breeder of leading hurdler Ballyandy. The nine-year-old, trained by Nigel Twiston-Davies, has won eight of his 26 starts, including the G1 Weatherbys Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival and the G2 Champion Hurdle trial at Haydock.
Simon Sweeting collected his third trophy of the night courtesy of Kayf Tara, this time as the breeder of G1 Challow Hurdle winner Thyme Hill, who won the Mickley Stud Trophy for being the season’s leading novice hurdler. Trained by Philip Hobbs for The Englands and The Heywoods, the six-year-old won three of his four races last season and was only a length and a half behind Monkfish when fourth in the G1 Albert Bartlett Novvices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham.
