Two employees from Oxfordshire yards were winners at the Godolphin Stud and Stable Staff Awards 2012 at the Jumeirah Carlton Tower Hotel in London.

Charlotte Cox, 32, who works for Wantage trainer Henry Candy, was yesterday named as the rider/groom of the year.

She collected her trophy and a cheque for £5,000 from Flat champion jockey Paul Hanagan, with her colleagues at Candy’s Kingston Warren stables also sharing £5,000 between them.

And Jerry Walsh, travelling head lad with Paul Webber’s Mollington stables, near Banbury, picked up the separate National Association of Stable Staff’s special merit award and £5,000.

Cox, who faced competition from Peter Johnson (Johnson Racing Limited) and Zafar Abbas (Godolphin – Mahmood Al Zarooni), said the award meant a huge amount to her.

“I am absolutely over the moon," she said. "I am so grateful to have had this opportunity to represent the racing industry. We work so hard and it is nice to get recognition.”

Cox is known for her work with horses with problems such as her pride and joy Amour Propre, despite herself suffering from scoliosis – a medical condition involving the spine being curved from side to side.

“It has been a long, hard slog with my back over the last six years and Amour Propre is the main reason I do it,” added Cox, who plans to put the prize money towards buying a Mini Cooper.

“It is really nice to be acknowledged and appreciated and to have a proper awards day.”

William Reddy, 57, head groom at Eve Johnson Houghton’s Blewbury yard, near Didcot, was joint runner-up with Andrew Bottomley, Mark Johnston’s yard manager, to Clifford Baker, head lad to Paul Nicholls, for the high achiever award.

Reddy received £2,000, which he plans to put towards a new car, with his yard collecting the same amount.

Baker, Kauto Star’s regular work rider, was also named ‘Employee of the Year’, and was presented with a cheque for £25,000, of which £10,000 will be shared among the staff at Nicholls’s stables.

Reddy, who has worked at Woodway for 43 years during which time he has looked after the likes of Rose Bowl and Ile De Bourbon, said: “It is great recognition.”