Goodwood today acknowledged trainer John Dunlop's outstanding contribution to racing with the presentation of its Lifetime Achievement Award.
The son of a surgeon, Dunlop was born in 1939 and after spending some time as assistant to Gordon Smyth, he took out his first training licence in 1966. Within weeks he was celebrating his first ever winner Tamino at Newmarket.
He was champion trainer in 1995, and over the last four and a half decades has established himself as one of the greatest practitioners of his art that racing both in the UK and across Europe has ever had the privilege to see with more than 3,400 winners.
The list of his big race winners provides an honours board of English racing at the highest level. He has won the Derby twice; the Oaks twice; the One Thousand Guineas three times; the St Leger three times; the Coronation Cup twice; the July Cup twice; the Gold Cup; the Eclipse Stakes and so many other big races in Britain.
Beyond these shores, he has been a pioneer in sending horses overseas to bag Classics and other big races in Ireland, France, Italy and Germany.
Much closer to home, he began this week having sent out no fewer than 194 winners at Goodwood, 41 of them at the Festival Meeting, and has been an influential member of the Goodwood Board of Directors for many years.
An OBE, Dunlop, who is nursing a broken foot and is unable to attend this year's Festival Meeting, received his award from His Grace, the Duke of Richmond at a luncheon at Molecomb House on the Goodwood estate today.
'John has made an enormous contribution, as a trainer, member of the pattern race committee and an ambassador for our sport, and in raising many hundreds of thousands of pounds for racing's charitable organisations without ever seeking one ounce of recognition,' said His Grace, who presented Dunlop with a painting by the celebrated French equestrian artist, Hubert de Watrigant.