THISTLETOWN Stud, near New Ross in Co Wexford came into being over 30 years ago when a thoroughbred mare called La Bise, that I rode in point-to-points, retired to stud.

Her first foal won seven races in the UK and I suppose that spurred on my husband Jimmy and I to get further involved to the extent that it is our main enterprise.

We have gradually improved the quality and pedigree of the mares we carry and the same applies to any half-bred mares we have. They must move well and have good jumping ability.

1. Congratulations, you qualified Bonnie and her Z7 Ascot colt foal for The Irish Field Breeders’ Championship show jumping section final at Charleville recently. Tell us more about your mare/foal combination.

It was always an ambition of mine to try and qualify Bonnie for the Breeders’ Championship at Dublin, so to do so is a dream come true.

Bonnie is a 2011 grey mare by Foxglen Cruise Control and he is by Luidam out of a Cruising mare. Her dam is Come Dance, by Come On, who also bred the four-star eventer C Why, by My Oh My.

We bought Bonnie as an unbroken three-year-old at the Goresbridge September sales and we loved her as a model, with her floating action and neat, scopey jump.

She was then broken in by our son David, who competed her to 1.35m Grand Prix level and they amassed 235 SJI points, before an injury to her necessitated some time out of competition.

Then Covid and lockdown happened and we decided to breed her.

She has a now three-year-old by Tyson that qualified for the Horse Sport Ireland foal championship at Cavan, only missing out by one mark in the final and she also has a very nice two-year-old filly by Tyson that we have retained.

As she wasn’t foaled until late June 2022, the decision was made not to cover Bonnie that year.

Z7 Ascot was chosen for her next cover and we are very happy with her colt. Bonnie is now in foal to Castlefield Kingston as I have a nice yearling - Thistletown Apollo - by him out of an Olympic Lux mare, Thistletown Olympia, that was successful in the show ring and jumped to 1.20m.

We look forward to seeing what Bonnie’s foals achieve, as she is an exceptional mover and we feel she could have achieved more, had injury not interrupted her own show jumping career.

2. What’s your aim as a breeder?

My aim as a breeder is to produce quality, good-moving show types with the ability to have a future as a jumper or eventer. I think breeding from mares with a performance record is important.

3. Favourite bloodlines?

I suppose Cruising.

4. What’s your view on prefixes?

I think that having a prefix is essential. Ours is Thistletown, the name of our farm taken from an old map.

Having a prefix enables you to track your horses’ careers and to build up your profile as a producer of quality horses.

Eileen Furlong's Blue gave birth to a colt foal by Killinick Bouncer in 2020 with midwives Jolly and Janna in attendance

5. How many mares/foals do you currently have?

Thistletown Stud is predominantly a thoroughbred stud that breeds National Hunt horses for sale as foals. We currently have 23 mares with foals at foot, including Bonnie and her Z7 Ascot colt.

6. If you could have bred any horse?

Red Rum or Istabraq.

7. Paris Olympics coming up - medal predictions?

An Irish equestrian medal would be brilliant.

8. It takes a team - who’s on yours?

We are a family-run stud and suckler cow farm. My husband Jimmy and our son David play a big part. All of our three children grew up riding ponies and involved with the day-to-day running of the farm.

David likes to have a horse for the Young Event Horse Series and finished second in the four-year-old final at Dublin last year with the thoroughbred Thistletown Delboy (Watar x Silver Patriarch).

Our daughter Eimear, who is in college, has qualified her mare Thistletown Rose Royale (Royal Concorde x Golden Master) for the Dublin intermediate working hunter class this year.

David is a very good show man and handled Declan Daly’s three-year-old Flynn (Munther x Brookfield Floating Lux) that we produced, to win his middle/heavyweight gelding class in Dublin in 2022.

Flynn was the reserve champion in both the three-year-old championship and in the Pembroke Cup [home-breds].

David’s fiancé Emily, who is an equine dentist, is also involved in a few mares with David. Our other son Martin lives in Wales and helps out when he is home.

9. Best advice you ever got?

As a teenager I did some work for a neighbour, Mrs Hall-Dare, who bred show ponies and a few half-bred mares and introduced me to showing. She once said to me, “Don’t ever buy a horse that you don’t enjoy going out to feed and look at every morning.”

10. Past or present, who is your favourite horse and rider combination?

Eddie Macken and Boomerang.