‘It’s an essential guide for the industry’ - Michael Dempsey

AS one of his missions was to produce the stallion book, this review is a timely opportunity to mark the contribution of Michael Dempsey, who has returned to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).

A familiar face at stallion and mare inspections, he was seconded from the Department in 1988 to work for the fledgling Irish Horse Board. Compiling the stallion book was one of his job roles since 1996, by which time the publication appeared in its current A4 size.

“It’s an essential guide for the industry,” he told The Irish Field this week. The logistics of putting together the stallion book start with sending out renewal forms to owners.

“It was an opportunity for stallion owners to freshen up the entry, send in a new photo, add a change if the stud fee had gone up or a phone number had changed,” he noted. However, uptake on such capture forms is poor, with typically just 10-15% returned.

Performance data was then added in from the FEI, SJI and Eventing Ireland. “They would be the three main ones and Catherine Brady, from UCD, contributes the genetic evaluations and star ratings. I focus on producing the stallion book after sending out renewals and then the girls in the HSI office type in the information.

“I enjoyed working on it. You were always very conscious of having it as correct as possible, as otherwise any mistake was in the book for two years.”

One method he has devised for keeping the content relevant is the Excluded stallions list. This includes stallions if they have been inactive for the past three years and if no renewal return was submitted for them.

Michael has now handed over the reins on producing what he regards as “an essential reference for the industry.” And the sporting highlight of those years working with the Irish Horse Board and Horse Sport Ireland? “I’d say it would have to be the run of three Nations Cup victories at Aachen, Dublin and Spruce Meadows in Canada.”

Perhaps the sires that could fuel the horsepower for another similar treble are contained in one of the stallion books he has worked on.