“IT goes without saying it’s an absolute honour to see all Dad [Gearóid] and the family’s hard work pay off! The family has been attending and participating in Clifden every year for over 50 years, winning their first supreme champion with Fort Doolin in 1981, owned by our grandfather Padraig Curran,” said a delighted Katie Curran after her Glencarrig Princess Katie was crowned the Horse Sport Ireland supreme champion at Clifden last Thursday.
Adding to the victory was the fact that the four-year-old’s sire Glencarrig Knight is owned by the Moycullen family too, making this a true home-bred success story.
Judges Gerry Gibbons and Pat Lynch’s supreme champion choice now adds this title to her junior crown last year. “Winning the junior and supreme back-to-back has never been done before in Clifden.
“She’s won her class here as a two, three and now four-year-old. Her mother, Glencarrig Princess, was reserve Clifden and RDS champion. Her sire Glencarrig Knight and her grandfather, Glencarrig Prince, were both Clifden and RDS champions,”
added Katie, about the successful line, all owned by the Curran family – Gearóid and his brother Ciaran.
Two full-sisters have had their own share of the limelight too, as Glencarrig Countess won an All Ireland two-year-old title, while earlier that morning, Glencarrig Princess Ella, now owned by Grace Murphy, was the reserve junior champion.
The supreme and reserve champions came from opposite ends of the mare classes as Glencarrig Princess Katie won the opening four-year-old class and the eventual reserve supreme was drawn from the final class for senior mare, won by Fiona and Tomás Grimes’s Lishín Star.
Bought from her breeder Joe Cunniffe as a two-year-old, Lishín Star also features Glencarrig bloodlines as she is by the 2003 Clifden supreme champion Glencarrig Prince.
A latecomer to the show ring, having first bred five foals, she was unshown until she was 10 but has since been champion at Balmoral in 2012. Her two daughters, Carrowkeel Star and An Ceathru Chaol Blathnaid, made Balmoral history by each winning the Connemara title there in successive years.
Having won at Clifden in broodmare and lead-rein classes, (partnered by the Ballinrobe couple’s daughter Blathnaid in 2017), Lishín Star has now won four red rosettes there and bows out on a winning note from the showring.
“Lishín Star stood alongside her granddaughter Copperbeech Polly, [the six/seven-year-old mare class winner] a daughter of Carrowkeel Star, in the supreme championship, making this three generations of Clifden wins.
“She’s [Lishín Star] in foal to Bunowen Paddy, who we brought over from Sweden in March to stand with us for 2019 and 2020, and he stood second in the stallion class on Thursday,” said Fiona, about the Susanne Leijonhufvud-owned Silver Shadow son.
The winner of that stallion class, which attracted 19 entries this year, was Noel Noonan’s Manor Duke, fancied by several ringside onlookers to maintain the history of the winning stallion following up with the supreme championship.
Led by Joe Burke, Manor Duke is by their Currachmore Cashel out of another household name in Banks Vanilla. He stood top of this strong line-up with Raymond Conneely’s Bay Shadow (Silver Shadow – Tawin Ballinvoucher) in third.
Marksman on target
Progeny of the show’s leading sire Glencarrig Knight continued to hit the target in the youngstock classes, with both the champion and reserve produced by him.
Trotting in to the centre of the ring after being called in top of a class is a special moment for Clifden exhibitors and Peter O’Toole got to repeat the experience after his three-year-old home-bred colt Castle Marksman won both his class and then the junior championship, led by Michael O’Toole.
Although the three-year-old colt class attracted just four entries, it was an excellent class and was topped by the Glencarrig Knight grey out of the I Love You Melody dam, Castle Melody, on his very first show ring appearance having been Class 1 approved in the spring.
The junior reserve champion came from the two-year-old filly ranks in the form of Grace Murphy and William McMahon’s Glencarrig Princess Ella, bought as a foal from breeder Gearóid Curran. A full-sister to the eventual supreme champion Glencarrig Princess Katie, both are out of the Glencarrig Prince mare Glencarrig Princess.
The Curran stamp continued in the junior section with Eleanor Curran’s Glencarrig Sea Breeze (Glencarrig Knight) winning the three-year-old filly division.
Also throwing their hats in the championship ring were the yearling winners in Malachy and James Gotham’s colt, Kingstown Dantheman (Slackport Prince) and Noel Mahon’s Rathkeely Lady Holly, a filly by Lough Melvin Gorteen, plus Pádraic Gannon’s two-year-old winning colt Doohulla Lad, by his own Cornarone Hazy Lad.
Three’s a charm
Brock Lodge Buster sired the Clifden champion foal for the third successive year. In the past two years it was Patrick Kearns, the owner of this Ashfield Festy-sired stallion, who had taken the title back to Co Laois and last week, it was Sean Cooney’s Loughmore Johnny.
This colt class winner went on to take the championship for good measure. Reserve champion foal, in the Frank Joyce and Dudley Nee-judged classes, was Joe McCann’s Camellia Shadow, by his own young stallion Hannah’s Only Dun, competing in last week’s Clifden performance classes.
Claremorris owner Padraic Conroy won the filly foal class with his Gardeen Angel, by Doire Mhianaigh Cascade.