THE Traditional Irish Horse Association’s fifth Hunter Show & Go Sale, was held for the first time at the Mullingar Equestrian Centre on Tuesday when 17 of the 37 lots catalogued were sold, with some still under negotiation.

The number entered was shy of the 50+ mentioned by the TIHA in their advance publicity of the sale but all agreed that the selectors followed through on their commitment when assuring potential purchasers that they would be buying ‘a genuine, well-produced traditional Irish horse’. The type, turn-out and production was remarked on by all who attended the sale.

As well as having hunting experience behind them, most of the lots had competed in performance classes and it was one of these, Anni Flagmount (Lot 26), who topped the sale when knocked down to England’s Neil Goldie-Scot for €14,000.

A tall, near white son of Welcome Emperor, Anni Flagmount stood reserve in the performance Irish Draught championship at last month’s Dublin Horse Show having previously won a very competitive novice working hunter class at the Tattersalls July Show.

He has also competed in unaffiliated events and has hunted with the Scarteens.

While coming up on Tuesday as the property of the Scarteens’ joint-Master and huntsman Chris Ryan, who was commentator for the morning’s ridden display, the five-year-old Anni Flagmount is owned jointly by rider Jason Furlong.

It was the latter who thought Tuesday’s sale was the ideal outlet for their grey gelding who was bred near Ballinrobe by T.J. Gibbons out of the Grey Macha mare Cloonacastle Countess.

OVERSEAS BUYERS

Goldie-Scot, who was encouraged to travel over from Sussex to Mullingar by sale organiser and TIHA national council member Eamonn Gleeson, also signed the €9,400 chit for event rider Darren O’Connor’s Laughtons Nice Guy (Lot 25) whose dam is by the thoroughbred Desert Night.

The six-year-old grey by Laughtons Flight had plenty of hunting and hunter trials experience behind him coming to the sale but his vendor, who has schooled the horse over cross-country fences, says he could excel in any discipline.

The second highest-priced lot is heading to The Netherlands after Reine Trooster had the final bid of €13,600 on Alberts Echo (Lot 10) who was consigned to the sale on behalf of his North of Ireland owners by Ann O’Grady. The seven-year-old, who has hunted and done some show jumping, is by Clover Echo out of the Able Albert mare Tynagh Ann, dam previously of the very consistent Junior one-star eventer Hazy Dayz.

“I can’t tell you much about this horse, as I only got him to do for the sale,” commented O’Grady who was in Burghley for the dressage and cross-country days.

“However, do you see what the owners said about him in the catalogue?

“That he’s a true example of a traditional Irish horse, well that is true.

“This is the kind of horse people come to Ireland to buy but it’s getting harder and harder to find them and chances are you won’t see anything like this fellow in the autumn sales!”

LOVELY TYPE

John Prenderville’s Noctors Flight (Lot 6) is heading to the United States having been purchased for €6,000 by Paul Beecher on behalf of his amateur jockey/racehorse trainer brother Mark who, when contacted by The Irish Field, said of the six-year-old Tara Flight gelding who is out of a Nigrasine mare: “I bought the horse primarily as he looks a lovely type and seemed to have a great attitude.

“Our hunt season pretty much started at the beginning of August and I have to restock as I have been busy selling Foxhunters over here. Noctors Flight should hopefully fit into our barn quite nicely.

“I wanted to support the sale as I think it’s a great idea especially for me as I don’t want to have to travel the country looking for hunters and Mullingar is a good equestrian centre to showcase these hunters without actually hunting them!

To no great surprise, the most prolific purchaser on Tuesday was Jim Derwin who signed for six lots.

“They were good types, expensive but nice; you’d have to pay more for them as they were not the type of horse you’d see every day,” said the Athlone-based dealer. “All the horses were produced well and they rode well. Everything about the sale worked great.

“They possibly could have catered for 50 lots but that would be more than enough. There would be no point in having 70 or 80 horses in the sale as it would have to start very early and would end late.

“It took a bit of time for every horse to go over that course. You want to see every horse shown over the fences and not be popping in and out of the sale and perhaps missing a horse.”

DECISION

Derwin gave his top price of €12,000 for Galway vendor John Fahy’s home-bred Lackyle Executive Decision (Lot 7), a six-year-old grey by Clooneen Sea King (a little-used son of Fast Silver) out of the Uibh Fhaili ’81 mare Offaly Girl.

This gelding was another with a good performance record behind him and not just in Irish Draught classes as he was sixth in the five and six-year-old lightweight working hunter class at Dublin and earlier won his workers’ classes at Limerick and Ardrahan.

Lackyle Executive Decision is a half-brother to the Duleek Hero gelding Woodfield Hero who was consistently placed in lower level events in England.

Derwin was quick into action as the first three lots were knocked down to him, his initial purchase, for €7,400 being Maura Ryan’s Tinraher Clover (Lot 1). The seven-year-old gelding by Clover Brigade, who had been show jumped locally as well as hunted, was considered a potential Master’s horse by his vendor. Another grey, he is out of the Prospect Pride mare Lucky Mermaid, dam previously of the former three-star jumper, Robin (by Cruising).

There were just six mares catalogued of whom half were sold. Jim Derwin gave a top price of €4,500 for Dermot O’Halloran’s Heather (Lot 30), a five-year-old bay out of Patricia Whelan’s Flagmount King mare Tynagh Glory.