THE year 2023 was an exceptional one for Irish breeding. A leading eventing studbook title in both sets of global rankings for the Irish Sport Horse (ISH) studbook, a vastly improved showing by the ISH studbook in show jumping rankings since the doldrum years and Ballaghmor Class and Pacino Amiro rated amongst the top-10 horses worldwide.
The World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses (WBFSH) rankings’ results are based on points from FEI competitions, Hippomundo rankings are based on what makes the horse world go round: money.
Last week’s Hippomundo feature focussed on the leading horses. Ballaghmor Class was their top event horse, plus three Irish Sport Horses - Pacino Amiro (eighth), GRS Lady Amaro (19th) and James Kann Cruz (24th) - appeared amongst the top-25 show jumping horses.
The late Noel Hickey (Ballaghmor Class) and Simon Scott (Pacino Amiro) are subsequently the leading and eighth-placed breeders. Alongside Ballaghmor Class in eventing, TSF Dalera BB (dressage) and Checker 47 (show jumping) were 2023’s other biggest earners.
The ISH eventing studbook retains its consecutive number one title since these rankings first began in 2015. Meanwhile, the ISH show jumping studbook continues to steadily climb, moving up to eighth place in Hippomundo’s 2023 rankings, having first entered the top-10 in 2021.
As gratifying as a leading studbook title is, it’s the wealth of information available on www.hippomundo.com in providing a multi-dimensional picture, that makes these rankings even more interesting.
The ISH eventing studbook held a comfortable lead on €956,162, almost double that of its closest rival, the Selle Français (€485,769). Nine of the top-10 eventing studbooks’ totals exceeded six figures and the 10th-placed Oldenburg studbook finished on €94,279.
Comparing prize money on offer within the three Olympic sports is equally interesting. As is the volume of horses per studbook. The ISH studbook leads the eventing horse numbers (1,286), all competing from two-star to five-star level, recorded on Hippomundo’s database. Again, this figure is around twice that of the Selle Français studbook (624).
This consolidates Ireland’s reputation as a leading nation for producing event horses, from commercial youngsters to last year’s Pan-Am dual gold medallist HSH Blake (Tolan R - Doughiska Lass, by Kannan. Breeder: Justin Burke) and the 2023 Badminton runner-up and Burghley winner, Ballaghmor Class.
Top producers and specialist event horse sales have also added to this ‘land of the event horse’ status.
Kate Jarvey, who bred Colorado Blue, pictured with Charleville Show steward Siobhan Madden at Charleville in June 2022 \ Susan Finnerty
Class successor
Room for complacency? None. Of some concern is the fact that, last year, there were no Irish Sport Horses on any of the European championships medal-winning teams at Haras du Pin or amongst the WBFSH young event horse medallists at Le Lion d’Angers last autumn.
Ballaghmor Class is an exceptional horse of a lifetime, but turned 17 on New Year’s Day. The sole ISH in Hippomundo’s eventing horse top-10, where is his immediate equally brilliant successor?
There’s one more Limerick-bred amongst this top-10: Colorado Blue, bred by Kate Jarvey, an Irish passport-carrying American. By the Selle Français sire Jaguar Mail and out of a mare by Rock King (the leading damsire in the 2023 eventing rankings), Colorado Blue is registered with Sport Horse Breeding (GB).
Both he and European dual gold medallist Lordships Graffalo are the main contributors to SHB(GB) scoring a high average figure won amongst eventing studbooks.
Certainly on paper, the eighth-placed Thüringen studbook, one of the components of the amalgamated Deutsches Sportpferd, tops this table. However, this is based solely on one horse: the 2023 Kentucky 5* winner Mai Baum, whose success last year has also catapulted his sire Loredana 2 into fifth place amongst eventing sires.
A great result, yet the SHB(GB) average (€2,098) is a more realistic one. The ISH average (€744) places the studbook mid-division.
Noel Hickey (first) and Kate Jarvey’s Mellon Stud (second) both appear on top-10 breeders’ leaderboard, followed by third-placed Lordships Stud, based at Writtle College.
The reality of eventing prize money is that five-star big earners will always dominate Hippomundo’s rankings. So how much did the top-10 Irish breeders’ horses earn in 2023?
The list begins with Noel Hickey (€194,523), then Mellon Stud (€145,387), Thomas Horgan (€53,271), J W Rosbotham (€43,346), Gerard Lynch (€36,580), Jack Murphy (€32,444), Jenny Glynn (€25,445), Michael Callery (€22,968), Kilcandra Stud (€21,861) and Noel Russell (€21,544).
Half of this group have one Hippomundo horse apiece, including Jack Murphy (ranked 23rd, Maja’s Hope), Jenny Glynn (25th, Capels Hollow Drift) and Noel Russell (29th, Rehy DJ).
Thomas Horgan (ranked 11th in the overall breeders’ rankings. Top horse: Cavalier Crystal) has two horses listed and then Woods Rosbotham (ranked 17th, Cooley Rosalent), Gerard Lynch (21st. Cooley Oughterard) and Michael Callery (27th, Greenacres Special Cavalier) have three.
Kilcandra Stud (28th. Kilcandra Ocean Power) has four eventers recorded on the Hippomundo database.
Patrick Connolly, breeder of James Kann Cruz, pictured with CSF Telly Cruz and sons, Shane and Brian \ Susan Finnerty
Uber alles
Combining the two-dozen German studbooks naturally places that country at the top of the eventing studbooks by nationality category, bumping Ireland into second place.
Conversely, the ISH studbook scores very well in show jumping, finishing fifth in the ‘by nationality’ category and overall eighth place.
The top-10 Irish show jumping breeders and how much their horses won? Simon Scott (€905,401), Denis Hickey (€563,968), Patrick Connolly (€541,916), Mark Sherry (€471,706), Greg Broderick (€234,295), James and John Meade (€178,126), Ita Brennan (€160,494), Harold McGahern (€158,747), Frank and Laura Glynn (€144,194) and Pam Walshe (€138,910).
Simon Scott is ranked ninth amidst the show jumping breeders, with both Denis Hickey (21st) and Patrick Connolly (26th) in the top-30 too.
Three of the Irish top-10 breeders - Simon Scott, Denis Hickey and Mark Sherry (ranked 40th) - have a single horse listed: the by-now show jumping household names of Pacino Amiro, GRS Lady Amaro and Up Too Jacco Blue respectively.
Greg Broderick (101st. Top horse: BP Wakita), Harold McGahern (173rd. Rincoola Milsean) and Pam Walshe (221st. EIC Cooley Jump The Q) have two horses apiece on the Hippomundo rankings.
The Meade father-and-son team (144th. Sea Topblue), has three, Patrick Connolly (James Kann Cruz) and the Glynns (201st. FTS Killossery Konfusion) have five each and Ita Brennan (169th. HHS Calais) has 10 listed.
Having 10 Irish amongst Hippomundo’s top 215 show jumping breeders, plus Pacino Amiro and his breeder Simon Scott again in the top-10 horses and breeders worldwide, is a mightily impressive result. Especially when the ISH studbook has the second-lowest number (985) of horses, (competing from 1.30m upwards), on Hippomundo’s database.
The KWPN and Selle Français studbooks are the strongest numerically with over 6,000 horses. However, when the highest average prize money per studbook statistic is applied, the ISH studbook flips its underdog numbers around to rank second to the Westphalian studbook.
In 2022, it was Belgium’s sBs studbook that finished ahead of the ISH, in 2023 it was the German studbook, due largely to Checker 47’s contribution after his great autumn run right up to Geneva.
Last weekend at Basel, another Swiss fixture, there was the latest ISH good result. EIC Cooley Jump The Q and Max Kuhner’s third place in the World Cup qualifier netted €46,500, World Cup points and a flying start for the horse’s breeder Pam Walshe in the 2024 breeders’ rankings.
Six millionaires
At the Irish Horse Board marketing conference in November, Kate Jarvey said she set out in 1997 with a strategic plan to prove it was possible to breed an event horse. Welton Stud’s Sam Barr, Patricia Nicholson, William Micklem and Friedrich Butt have also proven it can be done.
Yet, looking at the sums earned by show jumping horses for their owners, sires and studbooks and even the sheer number of horses competing, is proof that the horse world’s money lies in show jumping.
Six show jumping horses won over €1 million in prize money last year: Checker 47, Stargold, King Edward, Zineday, Donatello D’Auge and Leone Jei. Pacino Amiro was not far off the millionaire’s list (€905,401), followed by GRS Lady Amaro (€563,968) and James Kann Cruz (€528,365).
Lucrative prize money drives the production lines too and leading stallion owners can benefit. A major win by a stallion’s offspring drives up demand and prices.
So, which stallions topped Hippomundo’s rankings in 2023?
The Trakehner sire Easy Game, whose best offspring TSF Dalera BB scored another emphatic win at Basel, deposed Quaterback amongst the dressage sires. Diamant de Semilly performed a similar overtake manoeuvre with Chacco-Blue in the 2021 Hippomundo show jumping sire rankings and the Selle Français stallion still remains there.
In eventing, Birkhof’s Grafenstolz made it a remarkable double for the small Trakehner studbook, when he moved up from fifth place to succeed Camiro de Haar Z. The latter was the top sire of 2022 after the now-retired Vanir Kamira’s successful year and another reminder of how one brilliant horse can put a stamp on rankings.
With other Olympic and five-star progeny, such as Ringwood Sky Boy, The Duke of Cavan and Camembert having wound down their careers, Courage II has just two progeny remaining on the Hippomundo database. And again, it’s Ballaghmor Class who drives his sire to second place in a Holsteiner sire-dominated top-10.
Other ‘outliers’ results’ include Mai Baum, Maja’s Hope and Virgil’s respective sires Loredana 2 (fifth), Porter Rhodes (25th) and Vivant (26th). The late Porter Rhodes is the sole thoroughbred to appear in the top-30 sires.
Simon Scott, Pacino Amiro's breeder, pictured at Balmoral Show \ Susan Finnerty
Second generation
The strong showing by Puissance stock throughout 2023 is a boost for owners of his broodmare daughters and traditional fans. Of the Irish-based eventing sires, Valent’s strong average (€14,449) from just three offspring, albeit from the same Roselier dam, is worth noting.
Over €4.5 million was won by Diamant de Semilly show jumping progeny last year. On top of that, two sons, Diarado (10th) and Pacino (18th), also appear in the top-20 show jumping sires.
Pacino records a highly impressive prize money average of €68,549 from just 19 offspring, while most of the top-20 stallions have at least 300 horses. Pacino Amiro, BP Wakita (€212,217) and EIC Cooley Jump The Q (€138,155) are the leading lights of a stallion, who ranks second to Edward 28 for the best prize money average amongst the top-20 sires.
Edward 28, the Hannoverian Sire of the Year, is in 17th place, one place above Pacino, and recorded a whopping €119,923 average for his 11 offspring, headed by another superstar in King Edward.
Chacco-Blue, (his leading show jumper was once again the Irish-bred Up Too Jacco Blue), does appear at the top of one leaderboard, taking over from For Pleasure in the show jumping dam sires table. The top-10 names are Chacco-Blue, For Pleasure, Contender, Diamant de Semilly, Nabab de Reve, Kannan, Heartbreaker, Indoctro, Quidam de Revel and Cassini I.
Lux Z moves up two places, on account of United Touch S’s phenomenal results, to finish in 17th place. United Touch S has an unusual pedigree, being by Untouched out of the Lux Z dam Touch of Class. What’s unusual about that? Well, both Untouched and his half-sister, Touch of Class are both out of Cantate Touch (Capitol I). ‘Line breeding when it works’ as the old adage goes and, with €668,713 prize money, it appears to have worked for United Touch S in 2023.
Lux Z’s second-highest second generation earner is the Irish Sport Horse Sea Topblue (€172,843).
Cruising (20th) and NC Amiro (27th) once again appear in the top-30 dam sires. For Cruising, his four six-figure earners, headed by the wonder grey James Kann Cruz, BP Wakita, Rincoola Milsean and FTS Killossery Konfusion, moved him up one place from 2022. Similarly, NC Amiro, whose sole runner is Pacino Amiro, also moved up one place.
Cruising naturally also appears in the eventing sires table (ninth) with Oughterard Cooley as his leading descendant. There are some retro names amongst the other damsires, led off by Clover Hill (29th. Boleybawn Prince), Big Sink Hope (27th. Rehy DJ), Bonnie Prince (26th. Kilcandra Ocean Power), Lucky Gift (25th. Capels Hollow Drift), Flagmount King (22nd. Maja’s Hope), Roselier (18th. Cooley Rosalent), Touchdown (13th. Greenacres Special Cavalier) and Cavalier Royale (Sixth. Cavalier Crystal).
And Hippomundo’s second-ranked eventing damsire? None other than ‘not recorded,’ responsible for the mystery dam of Ballaghmor Class. For another article.