This feature first appeared in The Irish Field's 2024 Dublin Horse Show Magazine.

ALL of Askeaton thought I’d won a Fiat Panda car!”

Practically every sporting household has its ‘glory wall’ of framed photographs, cups and trophies. A familiar cast of Dublin main arena legends line the Moran walls but no sightings of a vintage car.

Three generations of the Moran family, from the late Michael and his wife Jill through to granddaughter Robyn Moran, have all competed and won at Dublin.

Its main arena is the setting for many proud moments connected to the family. The Michael Moran Memorial Trophy is presented here to the Cruising six-year-old championship winner and in 2016, the David Moran-bred Limestone Grey won a hat-trick of classes for Italian rider, Lorenzo de Luca.

These walls are a potted history of both the West Limerick family and Dublin Horse Show, as they feature multiple photos of their much-loved servant Clover Bishop, a pennant-topped lance once presented to Jill after her Guinness novice championship win in 1977 and a large, framed photo of the iconic team of Paul Darragh, Capt. Con Power, James Kernan and Eddie Macken on parade in the main arena.

Pictures of the Pope, the Sacred Heart and John F. Kennedy were once de-rigeur in Irish households; for show jumping fans, this image of the famous Aga Khan team of the 1970s took pride of place.

And there’s a special significance with this ‘Dream team’ photo as it turns out that Hampshire-born Jill started off Heather Honey in her early career.

“She was too good. I said to [owner] Jimmy Flynn to put her back out in the field for a couple of years because back then if you won £25, she was no longer a novice. I mean, we could have kept going but it’s important to give a young horse time.”

Jill Moran and Patrick the dog in front of the ‘Dream Team’ photo and Guinness championship lance won at Dublin Horse Show \ Susan Finnerty

One frame contains the ribbons won at Dublin and Millstreet International by daughter Trish and Hutch, the famous 12.2hh pony, including the iconic Fiat Panda rosette.

It was a touch of marketing genius back then by sponsors Fiat to brand the 12.2, 13.2 and 14.2 finals after their Italian-manufactured cars. When, pre-social media, word spread to West Limerick that Michael and Jill Moran’s daughter had won the Fiat Panda final in Dublin, well, it was easy to put two and two together and expect the young champion to be chauffeured home in her new prize.

STONE WALLS

Horsepower of a different kind was involved at the start of Michael Moran’s story. Michael started off at local gymkhanas, soon building up a reputation for producing young horses. One of his most famous horses was Prairie Boy, owned by Michael Mangan.

According to his sister Veronica Fennell [nee Moran], the multi-tasking Prairie Boy did the hay in the summer, brought the milk to the creamery and hunted every winter, often hired out by her husband, west Limerick’s seanchaí and famous horseman, Johnny Fennell.

On Sundays, Prairie Boy was collected from his field and went show jumping with a young Michael Moran. Ennis was considered a long journey then but they ventured to the Banner County, won the stone wall competition and brought back a handsome cheque for his delighted owner.

Another cheque - this time, a blank one - was offered by Major Jed Dwyer for Prairie Boy but Michael Mangan refused to part with his hard-working horse.

The Moran family owned a grocery shop in Askeaton at the time. “There were horses in every little shed all around town before we moved up here,” recalled Jill.

‘Here’ is Station Road, Aghalacka on Askeaton’s ‘Golden Mile’, so called on account of all the famous West Limerick horsemen lined along it, such as Ronnie Kelly and the Hayes and Purcell families and capped at the end of the road by a horseshoe-shaped flowerbed.

This piece of equine heritage was discovered thanks to local guide and another seanchaí in Liam Ruttle and the reaction to the series of articles in The Irish Field afterwards rates it as one of the most popular Irish Horse World features.

Jill and daughter Trish, with local tour guide Liam Ruttle and some of their Dublin memorabilia, including the famous 12.2 Hutch’s ribbon collection \ Susan Finnerty

“It’s all horsemen around here. Everywhere there was a horse in every yard and at most, people were one generation away from a farm,” David observed.

In addition to Deelside Saddlery, set in a converted stable row and run by Jill and Trish, who earn five-star reviews for their friendly customer service, his yard adjoins the business.

A BISHOP AND A SINGER

Countless horses have been produced from here since his father’s day when qualifying and selling horses at Dublin was the annual mission. And of course, a famous Swiss dealer paid twice-yearly visits to Michael’s yard to source Irish-bred horses.

“Max Hauri came here every spring. We used to hold a series of shows in our little sand arena as part of the Tom Wallace league. Max and a lot of the buyers would come and take their pick.

"He would come back in the autumn but if he left one after him the first time, he’d very rarely take it a second time,” Jill recalled.

“And he’d remember!” David remarked about Hauri’s memory bank for categorising and recognising previous rejects. He was one of numerous Irish riders who worked for Hauri, with Royal Athlete and Radar being the top horses during David’s time in the yard at Seon.

“Max did his own vetting there and then, job done. You either sold the horse or not, none of this five-star x-rays. He knew,” added Trish.

Lyric, another of the Moran’s Guinness championship winners, was sold to Max but one horse he left behind was Clover Bishop.

“The reason we never sold him was he wouldn’t pass the vet,” Jill disclosed. “Oh, he was rotten in the wind, you’d hear him coming! And also he couldn’t trot. Every time Max Hauri came, ‘Trot him up there and back,’ then ‘Put him away.’

“I mean, a really bad trot, a sewing machine,” said Trish, describing the Clover Hill gelding’s up-and-down movement.

Maybe a silver lining? “He was a great boy, brilliant. Long stories behind him, probably in the beginning he would have been sold but then, no. Paul [Darragh] actually tried Bishop one day for people and he turned around and told me they’d never ride him.

“Bishop was a lot harder than people realised,” Trish added. “Paul told me, ‘Keep him for yourself and have fun’. And that was the main reason I did, really. The Army were keen to buy him too.”

“It was a very rare occasion that Clover Bishop didn’t come home from anywhere without a ribbon” said Jill fondly.

“A ‘diesel horse’, every yard needs one,” agreed David.

DUBLIN WINDFALL

Speaking of transport, he also had this anecdote about Preachan’s eventful start to his Dublin journey.

“The morning Preachan was going to Dublin Horse Show… they went off in the lorry and next thing, they came back. Preachan was after putting a hole in the floor, so they came back for a plank of timber to nail over it. I can still remember it!”

Preachan, Graham Fletcher’s silver team medallist horse at the 1980 alternative Olympics in Rotterdam, was one of many produced by Michael Moran.

“The whole thing about Dublin was you went there to sell, to qualify for Simmonscourt, do well in the Guinness championship or any class and then sell your horse. Selling, that was the biggest thing,” Jill said as Trish fetched the magnificent Waterford Crystal trophy won by Michael in the 1965 Guinness novice championship.

Selling in Dublin made all the difference to owners, riders and families who benefitted from the cash windfall.

For example, David remarked how their house extension was built after Michael won yet another of the Guinness championships, this time in 1976.

That extension was needed to house working pupils, mostly from overseas who came to Askeaton’s answer to the Max Hauri academy.

Jill herself first came to Ireland, following a similar path. “I finished school, I didn’t know what I wanted to do as I wasn’t good in school except for games. I was reading Horse & Hound one day and there was a job, looking for somebody in Ireland. I answered it.

“I came over to Borris for over a year and had a wonderful time. I hunted two, three times a week, just helping the Kavanagh family and with their horses.

“And then I was asked to ride a few jumpers for people around and then for the McDowells. I used to show jump in the summer and hunt in the winter because you didn’t jump outdoors until May,” said Jill, who often travelled horses to shows by train.

After getting injured at Dublin one year, Michael Moran needed a catch jockey for The Irish Rover, so-named by his sister Veronica. He knew of Jill’s reputation for producing horses, asked her to ride the horse in the class which she did and duly won.

Out that night to celebrate their success, one of the many Dublin Horse Show romances began and following their marriage, Jill moved to Askeaton, where West Limerick became the local circuit.

“The first show around here was Askeaton, where the bypass is now, on the 2nd of April. I remember because it was my birthday that day! You had Newbridge Gymkhana, which was just up the road, you’d Cappagh, you’d Rathkeale, that’s three more shows within an ass’s roar.

“There was one in Crecora, at Shane Carey’s father’s place. A big show there, used to be on the day before Newcastle West Show. There were shows all around,” David continued.

An SJI national course builder, he has a willing assistant in his nephew Jack Collins, Trish’s son, who also has a natural aptitude for course design.

HUTCH

“Dublin was your showcase,” said Trish, who the town thought had won a car after her win with the famous Hutch.

He was so famous that Jill recalls a The Irish Field sales advert for another 12.2hh pony of that era, proudly billed as “second to Hutch 11 times.”

Hutch was a pony of a lifetime to the Moran family but had one ‘flaw’: he could not be caught.

“He came from Johnny Greenwood. Leonard Cave was very friendly with Johnny and the two ponies - Hutch and Playtime - came over and Leonard kept the quieter one.

“There was a story about trying to catch Hutch in Greenwoods one time,” continued David. “They built a big pen in the corner and parked two cars across the corner. Hutch jumped out over the cars!”

“I was very lucky to have Hutch in 12.2s,” said Trish. “Brian won in Simmonscourt on him and luckily, for some reason, RTÉ filmed the jump-off in the final.”

“Hutch should have won the championship. But he lost his hindlegs on a turn. The video is up on Facebook somewhere, it’s unreal to watch,” David said.

“Brian didn’t fall off, he never touched the ground but he had slipped to one side, he was under the pony, kind of vaulted back up, nearly went off the other side. It was just one of those videos that shows the excitement of the 12.2 class at Dublin.”

Trish then takes up the story of more Moran anecdotes from the RDS.

“The following year, I went to Dublin and in Simmonscourt, I slipped going around the corner into the first jump and fell off. But that time you had a minute during when you were allowed to remount. I hadn’t actually gone through the start. Then, of course, I knew all my rules thanks to the boss! [dad Michael].

“I won in 12.2s on Hutch and the following year we won at Millstreet. I won the Dublin working hunter championship on Moonshadow and at the Spring Show, I won two young riders classes on ‘Bishop’ in the main arena.”

LIMESTONE REDS

Taking pride of place on the wall is a portrait of Clover Bishop, who David also won a Dublin young riders class on. Heavy breather and Singer sewing machine action aside, he became a Moran family firm favourite.

“There were four or five jumpers from that family,” David noted. “There was Clover Bishop, there was Bishops Quay, a little mare called Lisduff Clover - I remember jumping against her - and Rathvilly Clover.”

All were bred by James (Jim) Staunton in Loughrea out of Lisduff, a mare with unrecorded breeding.

David also has the distinction of breeding an international winner at Dublin; in fact, three wins in the same Horse Show week for Limestone Grey.

“I just happened to be there that day.” Limestone Grey’s success, including being the top-ranked Irish Sport Horse in the World Breeding Federation for Sport Horses show jumping rankings, did garner a number of later awards for his breeder.

These included one presented at the 2018 Horse Sport Ireland breeder awards and from the Stonehall Harriers, one of the famous local hunt packs in this area.

One special occasion is the presentation of the Michael Moran cup to the Cruising championship winner. Who was responsible for this gesture, acknowledging the horseman’s remarkable run in the Dublin novice classes?

“Leonard Cave!” the Morans replied in unison. “He was a good friend of Dads,” said Trish. “Horses that were here might jump up to Grade D and after that, if they were good enough, he’d send them up to Leonard for Leonard to jump on.”

With an early morning start, Jill now tends to hand the presentation duties over to the on-site Morans. “It’s 8am in the morning so I get Brian or Robyn to present the cup.”

Amongst the prized trophies is a memento of Brian’s Maryland Hunt Cup win 22 years ago with the Irish-bred Dubliner. A successful National Hunt jockey - those years with Hutch were surely beneficial - Brian also farms in Askeaton where the talented young rider Robyn is based too.

A previous The Irish Field Star of the Month award winner, another prized photo on display is of Jill and her granddaughter at the awards ceremony in The K Club.

Robyn Moran and Cushlas Fryday at the SJI Young Rider Championships in Hollypark \ Manestream Media

Robyn was the national champion at the young rider championships, hosted on the doorstep of Fortside Farms at Hollypark Stables last August. She continues the Moran tradition of competing promising youngsters at Dublin, having already qualified the Sligo Candy Boy mare Fortside Obsession for the five-year-olds next month.

How about the Deelside team, between the busy shop and yard, can they get away for Dublin Horse Show week?

“We were left at home when Dad went to Dublin, we were farmed out for a week!” David recalled. “I suppose we were 10 or 11 before we went for the week and now, you’d go for a day anyway.”

“We try and make the Horse Show week our holiday week, again, if we can get cover for the shop,” Trish explained.

And even if they can’t get away, what’s the one competition the TV or laptop is tuned into?

“The Grand Prix!” is the unanimous verdict.