FIVE in-a-row. That’s the proud Burghley record of Irish-breds in recent years. Two of those wins are courtesy of Ballaghmor Class, bred by the late Noel Hickey in Co Limerick.

We know Ballaghmor Class is by Courage II. That is undisputed. The other parts of his pedigree though looks set to be one of those glorious unsolved mysteries of the Irish horse world.

Noel, accompanied by John Meade, had spotted Ballaghmor Class’ dam at a sale in Cork and she travelled back to Brittas, Co Limerick, after being bought for IR£400.

Their neighbour Willie Kett took up the story in The Ballaghmor Class pedigree puzzle post-Tokyo Olympics article in this paper, saying: “The man [seller] came from up the Nenagh side and the mare was Ballinvella or Young Convinced out of an I’m A Star-Draught mare. It could never be proven as she had no book.”

While it is unlikely we’ll ever know the full backstory of Kilderry Place, such details don’t matter a whit to Noel’s daughter Carol, who has closely followed Ballaghmor Class and Oliver Townend’s partnership.

“A total fairytale for our champ. Oliver and Ballaghmor Class are the perfect partnership,” she told The Irish Field this week. “My Dad, like the Christy Moore song, was just an ordinary man. He was a Clare man, a lovely Clare man, always kept a horse and Ballaghmor Class wasn’t born in a fancy stable with cameras and vets, just in the barn.”

Carol moved back to the family homestead in July this year. “I’m now living in the thatched house near where Ballaghmor Class was born. My great-grandad Thomas was born here and it’s quite the honour for me to be the fourth generation of my family to live here.”

Carol Hickey with her late father Noel with his cottage, which Carol now lives in, being re-thatched in the background

Cried buckets

Busy with painting and tidying up outside on Sunday, she deliberately avoided checking the Burghley results until later that evening. “When I saw on Instagram that they had won, I cried buckets. It’s so emotional, it’s so amazing, it’s class.

“Sunday was a glorious day, I was painting, aching from painting walls and was in and out of the haybarn with the wheelbarrow and at one point stood in there looking at the walls and wondering if they had any idea how successful a little foal born in there would become.

“I just love the story, love it. I’m so pleased for Oliver, it’s been quite a journey and I’d love to meet him and Ballaghmor Class some time. Right now, I’m just a proud girly about Dad breeding this horse.”

And a horse that propelled Townend to the top of the Hippomundo event horse rankings by Monday after his latest win. While runner-up Galileo Nieuwmoed looks near-invincible in the World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses title race, the latest success by Ballaghmor Class has certainly helped the Irish Sport Horse, still in the lead in the July rankings, retain its leading WBFSH eventing studbook title too. A Class story indeed.

Burghley 2023 top 10

First – Ballaghmor Class (ISH). Courage II – Kilderry Place. Breeder: Noel Hickey.

Second – Galileo Nieuwmoed (KWPN).

Third – Cavalier Crystal (ISH). Jack of Diamonds – Cavalier Iris, by Cavalier Royale. Breeder: Thomas Horgan.

Fourth – Vitali (HOLST).

Fifth – Oughterard Cooley (ISH)(TIH). Puissance – Oughterard Sky Cruise, by Cruising. Breeder: Gerry Lynch.

Sixth – Maja’s Hope (ISH)(TIH). Porter Rhodes – Brown Sue, by Flagmount King. Breeder: Jack Murphy.

Seventh – Topspin (AES).

Eighth – Arklow Puissance (ISH)(TIH). Puissance – Cruising Jewel, by Cruising. Breeder: Michael Byrne.

Ninth – Tsetserleg (TRAK).

10th – On Cue (AES).

By the numbers

128,654 – euros won by Ballaghmor Class last Sunday.

18 – Twinkle Bee’s age when the Irish-bred competed in his final five-star at Luhmühlen in 2014.

10 – Irish-bred winners at Burghley so far this millennium.

8 – Irish-breds in Burghley’s top-10 in 2018: Ringwood Sky Boy (1st)

6 – Burghley titles won by William Fox-Pitt; two on Irish-breds: Ballincoola and Parkmore Ed.

5 – Irish-breds in Burghley’s top-10: Ballaghmor Class, Cavalier Crystal, Oughterard Cooley, Maja’s Hope and Arklow Puissance.

3 – Puissance progeny among six Irish-breds in the top-10 after cross-country.

2 – Burghley winners for the Holsteiner sire Courage II: Ballaghmor Class (2017, 2023) and Ringwood Sky Boy (2018).

1 – horse has won Burghley three times: Avebury.

Did you know?

    • Only three horses have won Burghley more than once: Priceless (1983, 1985), Avebury (2012-2014) and now Ballaghmor Class (2017, 2023).
    • The uber-consistent Vanir Kamira had a well-deserved retirement party in the main arena last Sunday, the same setting as last year’s victory gallop. Bred by Kate Jackson, the Camiro de Haar Z mare also won Badminton (2019) and was the Burghley runner-up to the ubiquitous Ballaghmor Class in 2017.
    • 2019 was the first year that Burghley ran as a five-star event, officially making it more difficult than the Olympics or world championships.
    • Third-placed Cavalier Crystal, the second Irish-bred in the top-three, won the Burghley five-year-old young event horse final in 2015 with Tiana Coudray (USA). The most famous graduate of these young event horse finals has to be Tina Cook’s dual Olympian and prolific medal winning horse Miner’s Frolic.
    • Both Oughterard Cooley and Arklow Puissance are bred on identical lines, being by Puissance out of Cruising mares. They and Majas Hope are the three Traditional Irish Horses in this year’s top-10.
    • Oughterard Cooley is also from the same damline as Robert Splaine’s Mr Ed and Derry Rothwell’s champion mare Greenhall Cailin Deas.
    • The most recent Burghley win by a traditional Irish-bred? That would be the small but mighty Lenamore in 2010.
    • Courage II was out of Vanara, a full-sister to Cavalier Royale.
    • William Fox-Pitt’s 2007 winner Parkmore Ed is by the Carnival Night son Parkmore Night. Bred by Patrick Wafer, Parkmore Night’s dam is Parkmore Jewel, the Atlantic Boy mare that won the 1990 Breeders’ Championship with her pure-bred Irish Draught foal Parkmore Chance (Kildalton Gold) for her Wicklow owner–breeder.
    • Donald Murphy’s Diamond Lad mare Hope 2, dam of the 2002 Burghley winner Highland Lad (formerly Kiltealy Lad) also bred Piggy March’s 2009 European individual silver medallist horse Some Day Soon (Kiltealy Spring).

    • Irish-bred Burghley winners since 2000

    2002 – Highland Lad (Taldi – Hope 2, by Diamond Lad. Breeder: Donald Murphy)

    2004 – Moon Fleet (Strong Gale – Blue Suede Shoes, by Bargello. Breeder: Basil Brindley)

    2005 – Ballincoola (Highland King – Dawn Girl, by Kildalton Bold. Breeder: Pat Keogh)

    2007 – Parkmore Ed (Parkmore Night – Bodalmore Lass. Breeder: Sean Aylward)

    2010 – Lenamore (Sea Crest – Karinella (TB), by Valiyar. Breeder: Ted and Helen Walsh)

    2017 – Ballaghmor Class (Courage II – Kilderry Place. Breeder: Noel Hickey)

    2018 – Ringwood Sky Boy (Courage II – Sky Lassie, by Sky Boy. Breeder: Myles Mahon)

    2019 – MGH Grafton Street (O.B.O.S Quality 004. Breeder: Martin J. Collins)

    2022 – Vanir Kamira (Camiro de Haar Z – Fair Caledonian, by Dixi. Breeder: Kate Jackson)

    2023 – Ballaghmor Class.