Trainer Michael Dickinson honoured for his contribution to horse racing

Michael Dickinson has been honoured for a lifetime’s contribution to the sport of horse racing.

The recently retired trainer was given the Sir Peter O’Sullevan annual racing award in London yesterday, at a ceremony that raised more than £200,000 for charity.

Michael Dickinson made his name as a jump trainer in Britain by winning three trainers’ Championships, sending out 12 winners in one day and training the first five horses home in the 1983 Cheltenham Gold Cup, headed by Bregawn.

His move to America in 1987 did nothing to thwart his success; he saddled Da Hoss to win two runnings of the Breeders’ Cup Mile in 1996 and 1998.

At yesterday’s lunch attended by around 480 people, Michael received a perpetual bronze in the shape of Sir Peter’s own racing binoculars.

Sir Peter O’Sullevan’s award has raised over £1.5 million in the past ten years. These funds have been divided between the Thoroughbred Rehabilitation Centre, Racing Welfare, Blue Cross, Compassion in World Farming, the Brook and International League for the Protection of Horses.

Michael Dickinson is in good company; previous winners of the award have included the Queen and the Queen Mother, Lester Piggott, Dick Francis and the Agha Khan.

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