Horse Racing Ireland today hosted the annual Irish Horse Racing Awards in the Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin. Galway man Derek O'Connor was this week awarded with the 2007 Point to Point Award at the annual Irish Horse Racing Awards in the Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin.

In the 2006 to 2007 season Derek O'Connor broke John Thomas McNamara's record of 52 winners (January to June) when riding 58 winners in that period but he really struck form late in the season where 49 winners came from 10 March to the 5 June. He rode 17 doubles and nine trebles on 31 different courses.

Perhaps most notably however, he broke his own record for the overall number of winners in a season when riding 75. Since being Novice Champion in 2003 he has been champion every season since and beaten the record on each occasion with scores of 59, 63, 72 and 75.

To ride this year's 75 winners Derek O'Connor rode 70 individual horses to win and won 62 Maiden races. Not only that but he was Southern Champion for the third time and Northern Champion for the third time and finished second in the Western title.

He travelled many miles for his winners and also scored a big double aboard Joe Blake at Punchestown and Stratford capping a tremendous season even by his standards.

He has set a new height for point to point riding and is dominating the sport since 2004 like a true Champion.

The annual HRI Awards are designed to honour the human and equine talent, which has made racing one of the country's most popular sports and delivered great success in the international arena.

This is the fifth year of the awards which are voted on by the Irish Racing Media.

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