THE sole Irish-bred Tokyo medal in eventing came courtesy of Ballaghmor Class (Courage II – Kilderry Place) and Oliver Townend’s gold for Britain. This pair, stellar performers for the Irish Sport Horse studbook, also finished fifth individually.

Any locals Carol Hickey met in supermarket queues or out walking are well aware of the Limerick grey’s presence at Tokyo, as he was bred by her late father Noel. “I tell everyone I meet about the horse going to the Olympics. Even last night, I was watching it and thinking ‘Is this real?’ It’s a fairytale story where he came from.”

Ballaghmor Class was bred in Brittas, Co Limerick by Noel Hickey who returned there having previously emigrated to England. Carol, who now lives in Colchester, said that the win would mean more to the Clareman than his native county winning another All Ireland hurling title.

“He was a massive character and the proudest Clareman. Would it [Tokyo gold] be better than Clare winning an All Ireland final to him?... we were thinking about this over the weekend and yes, it would. He was a GAA fanatic but that’s how much this would have meant to him.

“Growing up [in Ennistymon], the family were farming people, they would always have had horses. Dad lived in the most beautiful whitewashed cottage with that haybarn and yard behind it,” his daughter said.

“To think the two of them coming together for Tokyo – [Townend] the son of a milkman from Yorkshire and a horse born in a haybarn in Co Limerick – and to have the whole world looking at them, it’s absolutely amazing. It’s just the best story.”

Carol has received two Horse Sport Ireland breeder awards (2018, 2019) on behalf of her father, who passed away in 2014. On Wednesday, she and her uncle Peadar, who posted copies of the Clare Champion and tape cassette recordings of Banner County matches to his brother in England, were guests on Clare FM’s Morning Focus to chat about the ‘fairytale story.’

She follows Ballaghmor Class and Townend’s career closely. “I went to Burghley in 2019 to see him with my partner Colin Lloyd.” Like Townend, (the current world number one ranked event rider), Lloyd, a now-retired professional darts player, was also ranked number one in the world.

“We saw Ballaghmor Class and Oliver in the distance in the warm-up but I didn’t want to disturb him [Oliver] or go into their headspace when they were getting ready. He was standing just six feet away from us at one point and you just think my dad bred that beautiful horse.”

“My dad, bless him, had a triple bypass in 2006 [the year before Ballaghmor Class was foaled] but I remember that he knew this foal was good.”

Next week: Show jumping and the Ballaghmor Class pedigree puzzle.