THE Kilkenny-based Hughes family are Irish sport horse breeding royalty. Their extended equine lineage is blacktype throughout, and is synonymous with the breeding of world-class performers.

Stemming from Mary Hughes’ original ‘Kells’ lines, the success of these old Irish pedigrees has spanned decades, and has produced household names such as the top show jumpers Special Envoy, Harley, Vivaldi and Diamond Exchange. Today, and through the progressing human generations, this shared passion has mushroomed further to deliver the contemporary Olympians MHS Going Global, Imperial Cavalier and countless others.

In recent years, the mantel of succession has fallen to a group of first cousins, among which are the Olympic show jumper Marion Hughes and her family, Clare Hughes, the extended Brennan family with their MHS prefixed horses, and Andrew and Niall Hughes of the Ennisnag Stud (ESI). A close-knit and supportive group, they are based within a few miles of each other, and while each has the same goal, they also have their own individual recipe for continued success.

At a recent series of seminars for young breeders, presented by the Teagasc equine division, it was Andrew Hughes who valuably outlined his thoughts on breeding to those just setting out. Hughes has an unshakeable philosophy to only, ‘breed from the best to the best’ and has the enthusiasm to share his experiences with a younger generation. Remembering his own childhood, Andrew explained: “We were just so lucky to have Uncle Seamus (Hughes) – who, in my opinion, was the best judge of a horse in the country.

“Then of course we had dad (Andy) who rode all the horses for his brother Seamus, and Mam, and the cousins Marion, Tom Brennan and the others. We did everything together – we didn’t need other friends, we had family and we all socialised together and rode together. As a result, we got so well educated without realising that we were being educated.

“So as far as the young breeders are concerned, I love to give something back to the kids of today and that’s why I do it. It is beneficial and I encourage them to keep in touch. These kids are the next generation and if I can help them in any way I will.”

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS

Although a staunch supporter of the family’s sport horse stud at Ennisnag, Andrew is very much involved in the thoroughbred world. A former general manager at the renowned Ballylinch Stud in nearby Thomastown, he was offered an opportunity to set up on his own some 10 years ago.

With support from Dubai-based businessman Jim Long, Hughes holds both flat and National Hunt trainer’s licences, as well as running a busy stud.

Consequently, it is his brother Niall who is at the helm of the home-based Ennisnag Stud and taking up the story, Niall comments: “Horses weren’t a big interest to me when I was younger, so I worked in Dublin for a good few years, always in sales. My return to Kilkenny, and my interest in breeding, was sparked when my father remarked to us one day, that he felt he was getting too old to go down the breeding route.

“He had always kept a couple of mares and a few years earlier had taken up an opportunity to acquire a full-sister to Diamond Exchange. She was one of the original Kells breed, and among others bred Lady Kilkenny Cavalier, who was to become the dam of the good performance mare Arabella.”

The two brothers then decided to build the broodmare herd up to around 20 mares over a period of 10 years. “Initially, we sold a half share of Arabella to Cian O’Connor, which in turn generated a bit of income. We then decided to reinvest, and decided the best route to go was to buy the best we could possibly buy.”

Darragh Ryan and ESI Star Struck jumping in the five-year-old championship at Dublin Horse Show. The horse won the four-year-old championship and finished second in the five-year-old championship. He is by Lamm De Fetan

The next thing on the agenda was to decide the best age to buy into and this was dictated by two major factors. “If we were to buy a broodmare, the chances are she has had two or three foals already and they are no good and that’s why they are selling her,” reckoned Niall.

“Equally we felt that if we buy a three-year-old, then she has probably been tried and isn’t good enough. So, we decided to go to the continent to buy foals out of really well-bred mares, both privately and at auction. We reared them to three-year-olds, and we jumped them on the long reins.

“Anything that was very good to jump we bred from, anything that wasn’t we sold. All are lunged – I don’t loose-jump anything. If you look at a horse jumping, they are supposed to jump off their hocks. When they go down a line they can go as fast like a hurdler and jump head first.”

The duo also sourced from within Ireland, and one opportune buy came in the form of a half-sister to MHS Going Global. She was snapped up before her illustrious brother made his name, but according to Niall, she was not easily acquired. “We bought her from cousin Tom – but we certainly didn’t get a family rate!”

PEDIGREE RESEARCH

Constantly scouring the pedigrees, the brothers also sourced a filly out of a sister to Vigo d’Arsouilles, who went on to be world champion. Another was Halona de La Vie who progressed to become the dam of ESI Star Struck, winner of the Seamus Hughes trophy for four-year- olds at the RDS in 2015.

“That win fulfilled a long-held ambition,” explained Niall. “One day a few years ago, we were all in the stands at the RDS and our father said to us, ‘I’d love to win Seamus’s trophy before I die’, and he did.”

There is little room for sentiment however. Mares are assessed after producing three foals. If none have shown enough ability, then the mare is culled. “The ones we choose not to keep are sold on and of course the odd one slips through the net,” added Hughes. “People come in and think it can’t be any good if it’s being sold, but that’s not necessarily the case. We do a cull every year, about 10% which is roughly two or three mares. However, this bottom 10% could still be better than many people’s top 10%.”

Niall Hughes of Ennisnag Stud

Sometimes a very impressive three-year-old filly from a good line, will be retained. It depends on how good they are and what families they are from. “You can put them into sport or earmark the family to keep for breeding. We always keep the best out of every family. If she’s exceptional on the lunge, she’s put in foal. The exceptional ones are worth multiples of themselves – that’s the way we look at it. We assess each one individually. We love the fillies – they have two purposes in life.”

All the youngsters are broken in, even those that are intended for breeding. “We break all of them as it is important to break them even just from a handling point of view.”

CHANGES IN BREEDING PRACTICE

Years ago, the vast majority of Irish jumpers were by thoroughbred sires out of half-bred mares, but those days appear to be well and truly over.

“The thoroughbred sires are not getting the same chance now,” reflected Andrew. “Years ago in this area were lucky to have the likes of Water Serpent, Bahrain, Nordlys, Highland Flight – everybody went to them so we had numbers and they had a chance to prove themselves. To get that chance you need to be covering over a hundred mares and these days it’s hard for people to get a return for them. The original foundation mare of the Kells breed was an Irish Draught – but a blood one with a fantastic step.”

It is interesting to note at this stage that Mary Hughes from Kilmanahan was once the leading breeder in Europe with just two mares. Taking on the might and numbers of power of Zangersheide and similar, she bred Special Envoy who jumped at the Olympic Games, Castle Princess, Special Ebony, Diamond Exchange, among others.

Another difference is that years ago, horses were sold as foals or three-year olds. “Nowadays, everyone wants a quick fix,” added Niall. “Life has changed. Now buyers will pay more for a six, seven, eight-year old nearly proven, rather than buy a foal or a three-year-old.”

THE FUTURE

Looking to the future, Hughes advises, “For me it is down to what you want to breed – and whatever you do want to breed, you have to breed the best. Whether it’s a riding club pony/horse, an amateur horse, a 1.60m show jumper, an event or dressage horse, try to breed the best of your category and there will always be a market.

“The top 10-20% of every market never moves. In contrast, the middle market slips and the bottom collapses. It’s not easy to be in the top percentage but you have to aim for it.

"That top market never moves. It’s the same in every industry – it’s recession proof and the good ones will sell themselves. It’s about quality too – you’re better off to have the best mare you can afford rather than five lesser ones.”

Model and conformation are also an important factor. “Every mare that we have can jump themselves and has a very good pedigree. So the chances are I am going to get a jumper of some category.

“So, the next thing is to get a model. If you have a model and it is moderate to jump there is still a market for it. If you have a model, you can sell them.”

Hughes also advocates picking a stallion that will improve the mare. It’s also important to breed a blood type, not necessarily with a percentage of thoroughbred blood, but one with elegance, and one that is rideable and with a good brain.

“Always match the stallion to the mare, and don’t be afraid to use unproven young sires.”

For the Hughes family, who are seeking to breed top-drawer show jumpers, the back pedigree is paramount. “We look at the pedigree to start with, then we go to see them,” said Niall. “We like 1.60m horses to feature ideally for a minimum of three generations.”

Embryo transfer has made life harder, leading to far more research. “You just have to see how many foals the mare has produced and weigh up whether it’s a good or bad strike rate.”

Niall seldom goes down the embryo route, saying: “People have different philosophies. We don’t do embryo transfer because we have enough mares and like variety. I prefer to have 23 different families coming through than one family. I did it once with Arabella who should have been a broodmare from the start. We got two by Callahan and one of them, ESI Everest, was placed second in the five-year-olds in Cavan last year.”

Hughes currently has 19 show jumpers competing with riders and producers such as Cian O’Connor and Ross Mulholland, Denis Lynch, Greg Broderick, Clare Hughes, Damien Griffin, Ger O’Neill and Mervyn Clarke.

The young horses go to their respective riders when they are broken, and all campaign under the ESI prefix (Ennisnag Stud Ireland). “We breed Irish horses and are flying the flag for Ireland,” adds Niall.

All the competition horses are on the market. “You wouldn’t get a good enough return from foals because the market in Ireland just isn’t strong enough, so we like to sell them at six, seven and eight-years old, when they are just getting into their prime.”

ESI STALLIONS

The next stage in the development of the stud at Ennisnag is the progression into stallion ownership and the retention of some colts. Remaining firm to the ethos that stallions come from mares, Niall stresses that a stallion needs to have a pedigree as well.

“Basically, you need to build up your broodmare herd before you start thinking about stallions. Also, the stallions are so easily got now. You can’t get any mare you want because a mare is owned by a single person, whereas a stallion is owned by a single person to distribute to everyone who can pay for it. Therefore, we concentrated on getting the mares sorted and having done that, we then decided to keep a couple of colts and take it from there.”

One of the early prospects is the five-year-old ESI Baltimore, who impeccably bred, is by Toulon out of the Nations Cup mare Echo Beach. Damien Griffin is currently producing this smart sort, while illustrating a liking for Toulon’s line, Hughes has just bought a three-year-old colt (by EToulon VDL) in Holland. Named Lithium, he will be broken by Griffin and competed.

Lithium, a three-year-old by Toulon, was sourced in Holland and will be broken in by Damien Griffin and competed for Ennisnag Stud

“He has a good solid pedigree rather than an exceptional one,” commented Niall. “We love the sire. We’ve seen him jumping on the content, and he’s super athletic and he’s well bred. This colt jumps really nicely, is very powerful, scopey, careful and has blood.

“We would never stand anything as a stallion that we wouldn’t use ourselves. The aim is to stand as many good ones as we can get – and then phase two – to make it a public stud. We also have semen from Callahan available as well.”

There are a further six two-year-old colts, and three yearlings who, if they are good enough, may be retained as potential stallions. All will go to the HSI stallion approval and all are registered here in Ireland.

Looking to the future, Niall believes that Ireland is not too far behind the rest of the world.

“I think the standard here has improved enormously,” he reflected. “If we could breed horses like we could breed riders, we would be flying. Irish riders are exceptional and produce horses so well.”

BREXIT

With the spectre of a no deal Brexit looming, Hughes is pragmatic.

“Personally, no matter what way it goes, there will be hit and then after a couple of years, everybody will find their feet again.

“The only thing that could be a huge inconvenience is the fact that transporting horses we have to go through England. No matter whether it’s an easy one or a hard one it will be a little bit of a struggle for a year or two until everyone gets used to it, then it will be grand.”