THAT the Irish are now a force to be reckoned with at the World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses (WBFSH) is a cast-iron fact again this year.

Irish Sport Horses have been consistent medal winners; for example at recent championships, there was Lanaken gold for ABC Saving Grace and BP Goodfellas in 2022. Then, four more medals last year, including a clean sweep in the five-year-old final. And last weekend, the ISH studbook recorded a gold and bronze, the best result of the 2024 championships.

HHS Mercedes and BP Royalty delivered gold and bronze in the seven-year-old final, but how did other studbooks fare? Belgium’s BWP was the only other studbook with two medallists – the six-year-old Sniper des Lilas Blancs and seven-year-old Remco van de Uilenbas each won silver. There were medals apiece for the DSP (Brandenburg-Anhalt), KWPN, Italy’s MASAF studbook, Selle Français and Westphalian studbooks.

Remco van de Uilenbas’s sire Nixon van’t Meulenhof was one of best-represented younger stallions coming through on the Lanaken scene, with five progeny in the five-year-old final.

Numerically, continental household name sires had multiple offspring, e.g Emerald van’t Ruytershof with 11 on the five-year-old startlist; a number matched by his own sire Diamant de Semilly in the six-year-old championship and Comme Il Faut had nine among the seven-year-olds.

Of this trio, Diamant de Semilly and Comme Il Faut each produced a bronze medallist: Jolidiams des Tocrias (Diamant de Semilly) and BP Royalty (Comme Il Faut).

Among the three champion’s dams; the Eckermann family’s nine-year-old mare Fascinora has the strongest competition record. Competing at 1.40m level in 2024 – the year she bred the Lanaken six-year-old champion, she placed fifth in the German Bundeschampion at national young horse championships as a five-year-old.

Adine, the dam of Niamh McEvoy’s five-year-old champion Orange de Baugy’s, seemingly went straight to the breeding paddock as a three-year-old, producing the Ballypatrick team’s champion the following year and Chester Lass has one 1m class listed on her SJI record.

However, the clever use of old Irish families crossed with continental stallions has produced a potent series of winners for the Hughes family and has also culminated in that rarest of Lanaken doubles: back-to-back gold medal wins by the same breeder for Marion Hughes.

Likewise, Greg and Cheryl Broderick’s Ballypatrick training and breeding operation has also paid off with another Lanaken medal. The glint off those medals also reflects on the progress made in Irish Sport Horse breeding.

What they said

Marion Hughes, back-to-back breeder of a Lanaken gold medal champion: “Brilliant, just brilliant to win. There’s so many Irish people there at Lanaken and to win is good for Ireland, it’s good for Irish breeders.

“Mikey has had a great record at Lanaken, winning seven medals there. I jumped the big classes in Dubai with HHS Mercedes’ sire Can Ya Makan, he belonged to Z Seven’s Sheikha Maitha [bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum], Sheikh Mohammed’s daughter. Mikey rode him as well and jumped in his first-ever five-star Grand Prix on Can Ya Makan.

“HHS Mercedes is related to HHS Los Angeles, they go back to the same grandmother. My father gave my aunt Ita Brennan the great-grandmother – I used to call her the ‘Clareman mare’ – and so Tom Brennan has quite a lot of the line in his breeding as well.

“We’ve a sister of HHS Mercedes – HHS Chinagirl (Luidam) – jumping this week with my daughter Molly and HHS Mercedes was down to jump in Valkenswaard, but I think it’s unfair to jump her again this week. And... she was inseminated yesterday with Ermitage Kalone and I already have an embryo out of her this year by Mikey’s good stallion, Madges Lane Luidam.

“I think he’s one of the best six-year-olds in the world and Mikey is putting his own breeding plan in place.”

Greg Broderick, a Lanaken medal-winning rider, owner and breeder: “I owned BP Royalty with my first cousin Darragh McCarthy and we’ve now sold him to the Spanish rider, Julio Arias. BP Royalty is a very green horse for that level and, for him to be able to stay jumping, not just one round but to jump four rounds impeccably… it wasn’t a one-hit wonder.

“For the experience he has, we should have found a soft spot in him, because he’s so green, but he dug deep and kept improving every day. To be third in the final… we were just delighted with him.

“He was always a very careful horse and we thought that Michael Duffy would be a very good fit for the horse.

"He’s bought half and okay, it’s a long ways out now, but there’s a very realistic chance that he’s a horse Michael could maybe ride at the Los Angeles Olympics.

“It’s such an atmosphere at Lanaken and the level of competition is so high, there’s no hiding place basically. If you’re doing well in Lanaken, you’re taking on some of the most powerful dealing and breeding yards and some of the best stables in the world and all in front of 60,000 people.

“We’ve a great team involved in bringing 23 horses and had 15 in the finals. (There was) some massive interest at Lanaken, but we’ll keep them for our auction, which is on December 28th.

“For the first two foals out of Goodwins Loyalty [BP Goodfellas and BP Royalty] to win medals in Lanaken is special. And it’s part of the breeding programme, which my sister Cheryl really looks after.”

Michael Duffy BP Royalty took the bronze medal in the seven-year-old final at the WBFSH World Breeding Championships in Lanaken \ Hippo Foto Media- Dirk Caremans

Larry Costello, breeder of Goodwins Loyalty, dam of two Lanaken medallists, re-flects on a good weekend for Kilkenny: “Congratulations to the Broderick family and Michael Duffy, well done. I am so proud; it is nearly unbelievable. We always had great faith in that breeding that has been in our family for generations and to get two medals in Lanaken in the last two years, from the dam’s first two foals, is unreal.

“I was in Turkey on holidays last week with a bunch of friends; they were talking about the hurling county quarter-final, I was talking about the young horse world finals in Lanaken. They’re still looking at me when I showed them the horse coming third in the final, hip hip hurrah. The hurling team won as well!”

Lanaken 2024 Champions

Five-year-olds

Gold – Orange de Baugy (KWPN). Dominator 2000 Z (ZANG) – Adine (SF), by Barbarian (SF). Breeder: L.A Gertzeema. Rider: Niamh McEvoy (IRL).

Silver – Zuly (MASAF). VDL Zirocco Blue N.O.P. (SF) – Toulindy FZ (SI), by Toulon (BWP). Breeder: Ileana Baesso. Rider: Diego Pagano (ITA).

Bronze – Jolidiams des Tocrias (SF). Diamant de Semilly (SF) – Tzigane de Sivry (SF) by Opium de Talma (SF). Breeder: Gilles Denizet & Michel Guiot. Rider: Lotte Teuns (NED).

Six-year-olds

Gold – Sascinora NRW (WESTF). Stakkato Boy RN (HANN) – Fascinora (HANN), by Firth Of Lorne (HANN). Breeder: Otmar Eckermann. Rider: Katrin Eckermann (GER).

Silver – Sniper des Lilas Blancs (BWP). Hamilton du Chapitre (sBs) – Helena (BWP) by Calvaro Z (HOLST). Breeder: Simon-Pierre Herbiet. Rider: Kendra Claricia Brinkop (GER).

Bronze – Earl of Alice (DSP(BA). Eldorado van de Zeshoek (BWP) – Cinsablume (DSP(BA) by Cinsey (HANN). Breeder: Ralf Mewes. Rider: Katrin Eckermann (GER).

Seven-year-olds

Gold – HHS Mercedes (ISH). Can Ya Makan (HOLST) – Chester Lass (ISH) by Couletto (HOLST). Breeder: Bravo Hughes Ltd. Rider: Mikey Pender (IRL).

Silver – Remco van de Uilenbas (BWP). Nixon van’t Meulenfof (BWP) – Ella van de Marcke (BWP), by Triomphe de Muze (BWP). Breeder: Raymond de Loose. Rider: Mathieu Bourdeaud’Hui (BEL).

Bronze – BP Royalty (ISH). Comme Il Faut (WESTF) – Goodwins Loyalty (ISH) by O.B.O.S Quality 004 (OLD). Breeder: GBBS Int. Ltd. Rider: Michael Duffy (IRL).

DID YOU KNOW?

  • HHS Mercedes is the second Lanaken medallist produced by the Holsteiner stallion Can Ya Makan. The 2016 bronze medallist Z Seven Canya Dance is the other.
  • Another Lanaken double recorded this year is a second medal winner bred at Greg Broderick’s Ballypatrick Stables: BP Royalty. Two years ago, his Stakkato Gold half-brother BP Goodfellas, bred in partnership with Kevin Babington, won gold in the five-year-old final with Ger O’Neill.
  • Both BP Royalty and BP Goodfellas are out of the O.B.O.S Quality 004 – Candle King mare Goodwins Loyalty, bred by Larry Costello in Co Kilkenny and competed at 1.60m level by Kevin Babington. Her first foals – BP Goodfellas and BP Royalty – were both born in 2017 by embryo transfer. Larry’s brother John produced Boom-erang in the legendary show jumper’s first competition year.
  • Ballypatrick Stables’ BP Lucky Clover, the winner of the six-year-old consolation class with Niamh McEvoy, is a daughter of Arraghbeg Clover, herself a gold medal winner at the 2013 Lanaken championships with Greg Broderick.
  • Dominator 2000 Z is the sole sire amongst this year’s gold medal winners to have himself competed at the WBFSH championships at Lanaken. No competition record was found for the Hannoverian sire Stakkato Boy RN, although the 18-year-old Can Ya Makan, who also competed at 1.60m level with Shane Breen, was still compet-ing at the start of this year on the UAE circuit.
  • Ralf Mewes bred both DSP Alice and this year’s six-year-old bronze medallist Earl Of Alice, who is out of Cinsablume, a half-sister to Simone Blum’s 2018 world champion.
  • Amongst his Selle Français sire’s multiple offspring at Lanaken this year was Phe-nomene Bleu VDM (Diamant de Semilly – Nuance Bleu VDM Z, by Nabab de Reve. Breeder: VDM/Family Bruggeman). The nine-year-old and Sven Hadley placed sixth in this year’s FEI Zangersheide Sires of the World class, won by Enjoy De La Mure (SF. Vigo Cece – Carmen, by Calvados. Breeder: Beatrice Drigeard Degarnier), a full-brother to Denis Lynch’s Mr Boombastic.
  • Barbarian, Orange de Baugy’s damsire, was fourth in the Sires of the World final in 1998 with Philippe Rozier. Two years later, the pair were on the fourth-placed French team at the Sydney Olympics.
  • The seven-year-old final in 2013 rates as a vintage classic, with the future stars H&M All In (fourth), Gazelle (fifth), Clooney 51 (sixth), MHS Going Global (seventh) and Chaqui Z (eighth) all in the top-10. Harley (KWPN. Julio Mariner) was the most recent thoroughbred-sired medallist, when he won the 1995 six-year-old final. Hickstead’s future sire Hamlet (fourth) and another Nimmerdor son Heartbreaker (fifth) were other placed finalists.

    • BY THE NUMBERS

    €25,000 – gold medal prize money for HHS Mercedes in the seven-year-old final.

    €12,500 – take home pay for six-year-old champion: Sascinora.

    €3,750 – for Orange de Baugy’s win.

    23rd – Dominator 2000 Z’s best result at the WBFSH young horse championships at Lanaken (2016 six-year-old final).

    21 – progeny, including HHS Mercedes, recorded on IHR Online for Can Ya Makan.

    11 – offspring each for Emerald (five-year-olds) and his sire Diamant de Semilly (six-year-olds) at the 2024 championships.

    10 – Lanaken gold medals won by Irish Sport Horses: NLS Coole Al Clover (2010), Arraghbeg Clover (2013), Killossery Kaiden (2016), Columbcille Gipsy (2017), Uppercourt Cappuccino (2018), Rockwell RC and Cuffesgrange Cavadora (2019), ABC Saving Grace and BP Goodfellas (2022), HHS Ocala (2023) and HHS Mercedes (2024).

    5* – eventers appear too in the families of ISH medal-winning horses: HHS Mercedes (Quarrycrest Echo, on the British gold medal team with Piggy March at the 2018 world championships at Tryon) and BP Royalty (Goodwins Reef).

    4 – Lanaken medallists bred by Marion Hughes/Bravo Hughes: HHS Mercedes (gold medal, 2024), HHS Ocala (gold medal, 2023), Z Seven Caretina (silver medal, 2016) and HHS Vancouver (bronze, 2018). Anne Hughes, Marion’s mother, also bred Z Seven Canya Dance (bronze, 2016), making it five Lanaken medallists bred on their Cuffesgrange farm.

    3 – Mikey Pender (€57,136) is ranked third after Christian Ahlmann and Katrina Eckermann as the top prize money earner at the WBFSH championships.

    2 – gold medallist mares: Orange de Baugy and HHS Mercedes.

    1 – Irish Sport Horse is ranked as the top-earner at the WBFSH championships: Cuffesgrange Cavadora.

    ISH Lanaken Roll Of Honour (2000-2024)

    GOLD

    2010 – NLS Coole Al Clover (Aladatus Z – Laurel Lodge, by Clover Hill. Breeder: Brian Kenny).

    2013 – Arraghbeg Clover (Captain Clover – Blidsworth Lion Queen, by Bonnie Prince. Breeder: Agata Leonard).

    2016 – Killossery Kaiden (Lux Z – Killossery Kruisette, by Cruising. Breeder: Frank & Laura Glynn).

    2017 – Columbcille Gipsy (Toulon – Gipsy III, by Grundyman. Breeder: Eamonn Murphy).

    2018 – Uppercourt Cappuccino (Pacino – Uppercourt Posh, by O.B.O.S Quality 004. Breeder: Paul O’Byrne).

    2019 – Rockwell RC (Kannan – Urban Sea, by Guidam. Breeder: Ronan Byrne).

    2019 – Cuffesgrange Cavadora (Wellie 72 – Cuffesgrange Cavalidam, by Luidam. Breeder: Eamonn Sheehan).

    2022 – ABC Saving Grace (Kannan – Ardnehue Diamond Cruiser, by Cruising. Breeder: Pat Kehoe).

    2022 – BP Goodfellas (Stakkato Gold – Goodwins Loyalty, by O.B.O.S Quality. Breeder: Kevin Babington & GBBS Int. Ltd)

    2023 – HHS Ocala (Urano de Cartigny (SF) – Hera van’t Roosakker (BP), by Wandor van de Mispelaere (BWP). Breeder: Bravo Hughes Ltd.

    2024 – HHS Mercedes.

    SILVER

    2001 – Master Ballinteskin (Master Imp – Cushinstown Glory, by Hail Titan. Breeder: Simon McCarthy).

    2009 – Drumiller Lough (Heartbreaker – Pearl Diver, by Mountain Pearl. Breeder: Paul Dillon).

    2014 – Ard Ginger Pop (Luidam – Derrylea Grey Lady, by Cruising. Breeder: Heather Dean-Wright).

    2015 – MHS Washington (O.B.O.S Quality 004 – Mill Royale, by Cavalier Royale. Breeder: Ita Brennan).

    2016 – Z Seven Caretina (Coltaire Z – Caretina, by Caretino. Breeder: Marion Hughes).

    2018 – CSF Sir George (Sir Shutterfly – Norrira, by Cavalier Royale. Breeder: Shane Connolly).

    2019 – MHS Cardenta (Cardento – Willow Point, by Diamond Serpent. Breeder: Tom Brennan).

    2023 – Boleybawn Alvaro (Dominator 2000 Z – Arina, by Crown Z. Breeder: Ronan Rothwell).

    2023 – Laurina (Stakkato Gold – Rincarina, by Cruising. Breeder: Noel Cawley).

    BRONZE

    2010 – Ballypatrick Mystique (Heritage Fortunus – Lady Ligustra, by Cavalier Royale. Breeder: Ita Brennan).

    2016 – Z Seven Canya Dance (Can Ya Makan – HHS Chantilly Lace, by Cavalier Royale. Breeder: Anne Hughes).

    2018 – HHS Vancouver (Indoctro – La Juanita, by Don Juan de la Bouverie. Breeder: Marion Hughes).

    2023 – Ballyshan B F Super Hero. (Celtic Hero B Z – Ballyshan Lux Important, by Lux Z. Breeder: Gary Doherty).

    2024 – BP Royalty