Entain Industry Excellence Awards recognise New Zealand's finest young racing talent

Cover image courtesy of Entain Industry Excellence Awards

The best and brightest of New Zealand’s three racing codes under the age of 40 were recognised on Sunday night at the Entain Industry Excellence Awards, with winners across nine categories and the supreme honours being awarded to Te Akau Racing co-trainer Sam Bergerson, who is closing out his second season at the helm in partnership with Mark Walker.

The operation has yet again dominated the trainers’ premiership and has broken the New Zealand record for stakes earnings in one season, having amassed over $9.1 million in prize money to date with a month left to go - in no small part due to the performances of million dollar-earning juvenile La Dorada (NZ) (Super Seth) and fellow Group 1 winner Return To Conquer (Snitzel).

Finalists in each of the nine categories received $2000, with a further $10,000 awarded to the winners. Bergerson received an additional $5000 for taking out the Entain Excellence Award, plus a $5000 education package, which Bergerson has said he will put towards travelling to learn from other trainers.

“Sam Bergerson is the perfect example of a Kiwi in the racing industry grabbing an opportunity with both hands, then building on it to scale new and impressive heights,” Entain’s General Manager in New Zealand Jessica Meech said.

“We congratulate Sam, the eight other category winners, and everyone who was nominated for the 2025 Industry Excellence Awards.”

Bergerson’s talent recognised

“It’s fantastic to be recognised by Entain, who are doing so much for the industry,” Bergerson said after the ceremony. “I feel very privileged to receive these awards, and privileged to be in the position I’m in. I love what I do, and I don’t think I could do what I do without loving it.”

Bergerson took out the Equine License Holder category earlier in the awards night, which put him in line for top honours.

“To get the recognition among your peers against some really good horse people was very humbling.”

The third generation in the Bergerson training dynasty and recipient of the 2019 Sunline Trust International Management Scholarship, Bergerson was promoted from assistant trainer to co-trainer at the start of the 2023/24 season, and the partnership finished that year on a high, having resolutely topped the trainers’ premiership.

It has been another standout year for the Te Akau Racing team, and Bergerson has enjoyed steering the 3-year-olds that he first trained as juveniles towards new heights, as well as preparing the first yearlings he helped purchase as a trainer blossom into top tier juveniles.

Captured By Love (Written Tycoon) was one such 3-year-old; a multiple Group-winning filly, she raised the bar in the spring by taking out the G1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas, delivering a seventh win in the event for the tangerine and royal blue silks. She delivered one of 18 stakes wins - and 127 wins to date - for the team this season.

Bergerson has been steering the New Zealand stable solo most of the season, with Walker now largely based at Cranbourne as Te Akau seeks to expand their reach into the Australian racing scene.

“It has been a massive couple of years,” Bergerson said. “I am very fortunate and privileged to be in the position I am in with Te Akau, with the backing of Mark, Karyn (Fenton-Ellis) and David (Ellis). It is just a fantastic opportunity.

“I am so grateful to Mark. He has been a fantastic mentor to me and we have got a really good relationship,” he said. “I look at him like a mate, not like a boss. He has really taken me under his wing and we have had some great success together and gone through the hardships as well.”

Bergerson was full of praise for the systems in place that make Te Akau run so smoothly, and thanked the teams at both stables for their hard work.

“I couldn’t do it without the staff here, they are a really good group of people. They are the ones at the coalface and don’t get the recognition and exposure I have been able to get through being the head trainer. But you can’t do it without the people at the forefront there every day.”

Leading harness trainer Zachary Butcher, who recorded his 1000th career win in 2024, and Group 1-winning trainer Robert Wellwood were the other finalists in the Equine License Holder Excellence category.

O’Sullivan Doyle building bridges

The National Racing Woman Award was given to Caitlyn O’Sullivan Doyle, daughter of New Zealand Racing Hall Of Fame jockey and leading trainer Lance O’Sullivan, in recognition of her marketing and ambassador work in the industry.

“I was super excited to just be nominated, alongside some very worthy finalists,” O’Sullivan Doyle said to Loveracing.nz. “To win was great, it was an awesome night put on by Entain. In my line of work, no two weeks are the same, which I personally love.

"My focus is digital marketing for a range of racing and non-racing clients, and with the racing, it is obviously seasonal, so we’re looking at different times of the year with events like key race days or yearling sales.”

O’Sullivan Doyle has cultivated an extensive network of digital marketing clients, from studs across the country to her father’s training business.

“I love the horses, the people and the journey of following a horse all the way through, whether that be for stud clients having foaled a horse down, or the process of coming through the stables to get to race day. It’s pretty special.”

In a “full circle” moment, O’Sullivan Doyle has spent the last two years as ambassador for Ellerslie Racecourse, a position first held by her mother Bridgette in the early 2000s. She spoke about how enjoyable the experience was, and how fantastic it was to be able to promote her passion as a job.

“It hardly feels like a job when you get to attend races like the Karaka Millions or NZB Kiwi,” she said.

O’Sullivan Doyle thanked her three biggest clients - Rich Hill Stud, standardbred breeders Breckon Farms, and her father’s Wexford Stables - for their mentorship over the years that has allowed her to cultivate a place in the industry.

“I’ve had a lot of great mentors, particularly in three of my more prominent clients,” she said. “With those three operations alone, I’ve got fantastic people above me that I’d consider industry leaders. I’m very fortunate to be learning from some of the best.”

Harness racing drivers Sam Ottley and Crystal Hackett, and Cambridge Stud’s Mallory Phillips were the other finalists for the award.

Alice Jeffries finding her place

The recipient of the Newcomer Excellence award, Alice Jeffries’ life is closely intertwined with that of three-time Group 1 winner Legarto (NZ) (Proisir), who was bred by her father Warwick Jeffries.

“Legarto was one of the first horses I took through from a baby to the sales,” Jeffries told Loveracing.nz. “I did all of the handling with her and took her through the ring. She was one of the first horses to really grab my attention in getting into the industry.”

A recipient of the Keith and Faith Taylor Family Trust Equine Scholarship upon completion of her degree in Bachelor of Commerce and Agriculture, Jeffries spent six months at the Irish National Stud, which inspired her to commit to a path in New Zealand’s breeding industry, ultimately leading to her landing the assistant yearling manager role at Cambridge Stud in mid 2024.

At the New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale earlier this year, she was on the lead in the ring when Lot 628, a colt from the first crop of Cambridge Stud’s Sword Of State, made $540,000 when selling to Mick Gregg’s Mulberry Racing.

“It was very rewarding because you put in a lot of effort, so it was really nice to be recognised at an industry level,” Jeffries said. “The love of the horse is the main reason why I’m in this industry, and also you’re able to do a lot, you can travel the world, meet lots of new people, and no two days are the same.

“Day to day at the moment, we are weanling handling, so mobs are coming in every week for handling, with things like having the farrier done. We’ll start to bring them on to grooming and getting them ready for that final yearling prep come the end of October to January.”

In celebration of 100 years of New Zealand Bloodstock yearling sales, Cambridge Stud have committed to selling all of their yearlings at Karaka in 2026.

Monacurragh Lodge’s Billie Roach and Marsh Racing’s Taleah Voigt were also finalists for the newcomers’ award.

Making their mark

NZTR’s Emma Thompson was the recipient of the Administration and Innovation Excellence award in recognition of her leadership in getting the inaugural NZ$3.5 million NZB The Kiwi underway and ensuring the success of the 2025 Karaka Millions raceday. The first winner of the southern hemisphere’s richest 3-year-old slot race was Te Akau Racing’s Damask Rose (NZ) (Savabeel) - another feather in Bergerson’s cap - and next year’s event promises to be just as enticing.

The Care And Welfare Excellence award went to Lisa Kennedy of thoroughbred rehoming organisation Event Stars, where she has stepped up to assist organisation head Gina Schick after tragedy befell Schick’s family earlier this year.

Waikato Stud yearling manager Olivia Blane received the Stud, Stable And Kennel Excellence prize, and Wentwood Grange yearling manager Brad Molander was awarded the Dedication To Breeding Excellence.

“The younger generation are making their mark in a huge way, and we’re blessed with the talented leaders and influential Kiwis who were nominated, finalists, or won their categories,” Meech said.

Table: Award categories and recipients at the 2025 Entain Industry Excellence Awards