Susan Finnerty

ALL roads led to Cavan this week with the Irish Horse Board annual general meeting held there on Tuesday night and the start of the Cavan International Show the following day. And it was a former competitor in the international’s young horse classes - MHS Going Global – who won the first of two Horse Sport Ireland breeder awards picked up by his breeders, the Brennan family, on the night.

In fact, the south-east breeding scene dominated these awards, held in conjunction with the earlier Irish Horse Board annual general meeting in Hotel Kilmore.

Ita Brennan received an unprecedented two awards from IHB chairman Jim Beecher for the year’s talking horse MHS Going Global. The Quidam Junior gelding was part of the victorious home team in this year’s Nations Cup win at Dublin with Greg Broderick, followed by the pair’s selection for the European show jumping championships.

Ita and her son Tom brought a second trophy home to their Mill House Stud in Gowran for MHS Washington. This seven-year-old won a silver medal in this year’s World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses (WBFSH) young horse show jumping championships at Lanaken in September with Laura Renwick.

By OBOS Quality, both he and Going Global are out of dams by Cavalier Royale, the Holsteiner stallion introduced to Irish breeders by Ita’s brother, John, while MHS Washington traces back to their foundation mare by Clareman.

Marion Hughes, Ita’s niece, also won an award for her Dublin double for breeding the winners of The Irish Field Breeders Championship, Aidensfield Flamenco and the Broodmare Futurity champion HHS Athena. The latter is by the Hannoverian sire Heritage Fortunus, competed at Olympics and world championship level by Marion. Currently competing in Spain, her award was accepted by the HHS operation’s right hand man Brendan Doyle.

Back to the Lanaken championships where a resurgence in Irish form there saw Talks Cheap win a bronze medal in the seven-year-old championship. By the Westphalian sire Tinaranas Inspector out of a Colin Diamond dam, he was bred in Askeaton by Ronnie Kelly and ridden by Eoin McMahon.

In the eventing young horse championships equivalent, Billy Daly won here for SRS Adventure, who matched Talks Cheap’s bronze medal at Le Lion d’Angers. This was the third time that Newmarket Venture, based at Daly’s Scarteen Stud in north Cork, has sired a medallist at these championships, with the treble started by Nicola Wilson’s Annie Clover and Aoife Clarke’s Fernhill Adventure.

The breeders of the victorious Nations Cup eventing team at Boekelo were also honoured. William McCarrison bought a Rachelle Comet filly foal when the Banbridge man took early retirement and she produced Cooleys Rorkes Drift, by Courage II, while Alice Keogh’s prolific Porter Rhodes mare Westwinds Clover is the dam of the Ramiro B-sired Westwinds Hercules.

Rioghan Rua, by the Swedish-bred Jack Of Diamonds, completed the Irish-bred trio at Boekelo and has now claimed back-to-back awards for her unavoidably absent Oughterard breeder Margaret Kinsella who was the first of two Galway breeders to win an award and the second was Claregalway show jumper Owen Horan who bred Sliabh Papillon Beaker, by his own Heartbreaker stallion Boswell Mr Heartbreaker. She gained the highest marks in this year’s HSI mare inspections. Magherafelt breeders Kenny and Wendy Bell won the equivalent Irish Draught inspection award for their Limerick Lady champion Castleview Farmers Lady, by Tors Gentleman Farmer.

Another Irish Draught breeder to be recognised was Raymond Sloyan who was delighted with his treble win in the best show mare category for the Elm Hill-sired Elm View, owned by his nephew Seamus. Margaret Walsh is an avid follower of Kilkeany Mystic’s wins on the show circuit with Clare owner Stephen Culliney and brought the ISH show mare award home to Cahir for the mare’s 2015 record. It was a back-to-back double in this category for her sire Ghareeb.

IRISH PONY STUD BOOK

A welcome addition to the awards category was the best performer from the Irish Pony Stud Book with Naas breeder Gerard Leahy becoming the inaugural winner. He bred Millridge Buachaill Bui, by the exceptional Connemara performance sire Templebready Fear Bui, who won individual bronze at this year’s European pony eventing championships with Zara Nelson. The final award of the evening was the Outstanding Contribution to Irish Sport Horse Breeding category which has been won in the past by household names and this year’s award, which went to Suma Stud founders Susan Lanigan-O’Keeffe and Marily Power, was also richly deserved. Michael Slavin, their one-time Meath neighbour who compered the awards ceremony, reminisced about watching Susan compete at Dublin on Foxes Frolic, who later became one of their foundation performance mares.

He also noted how they had evolved with changing times in the sport horse world over the past 40 years and recalled the list of Suma Stud sires, including Pride of Shaunlara, Glenagyle Rebel, Huntingfield Rebel, Horos and VDL Arkansas.