Susan Finnerty

SEVERAL generations of winning families featured at Clonakilty Show, where the first of the RDS Breeders Championship southern qualifiers took place.

Four of the six catalogued combinations entered in the late-starting qualifier were forward before judges Rachel Bennett Hamilton and Limerick vet Des Barnwell and the pair placed Richard Drohan’s combination at the top of their line-up. His Power Blade mare Lucys Princess placed fourth in last year’s The Irish Field-sponsored final and she now has a colt foal from the first crop of the thoroughbred sire Island Commander.

“She’s the third generation of her family to qualify for the Breeders Championship,” said her owner-breeder, about his seven-year-old chesnut.

Two more combinations got their Dublin tickets including second-placed Brookfield Miss Lux, another Dublin veteran for owner Kieran O’Gorman, and her colt, another of her Munther offspring. Julie Radden took the remaining place with Rose Garland, a consistent Dublin prizewinner for her late partner Nick Murphy. Her Nigrasine colt is a full-brother to Mister Optimistic, who placed 10th in the one-star class at Bromont last week for his Pennsylvania rider, Erin Sylvester.

While pleased with the standard of foals in particular, the judges suggested that foals competing in qualifiers should be at least two months old to cope with the experience.

Rose Garland was also visiting Lancashire judge Karl Morris’s broodmare champion choice, seeing off the challenge of last year’s titleholder Assagart Mistress. Her owner John Roche, who had arrived home from Armagh Show at 2.30am before later heading on to West Cork, had some compensation when his Golden Master colt won the overall foal championship.

Daniel Park had a similarly quick turnaround after judging at the South of England last Saturday and deftly sorted through his youngstock classes to produce an eagerly-watched championship. Regina Daly’s Timpany Ruby kept up a good weekend for breeder Paula Howard, (who qualified the Centre Stage filly’s dam Slatequarry Sasha for Dublin at the Armagh qualifier), by winning the yearling title.

However it came down to a two-way battle between Seamus Lehane’s Ballard Wizard, by Colin Diamond, and the year-older contender Lucky Jack, shown once again by his owner Lorna Twomey’s father, Billy. The imposing Grafenstolz three-year-old gelding had moved up from third to win his class, deposing last year’s two-year-old Clonakilty champion, Declan Fahey’s Irishman, in the process, then won the overall young horse title ahead of Lehane’s contender.

Two more Cork ‘generation champions’ were seen in the adjoining rings. Pat and Elizabeth Ahern had first spotted their small hunter winner Sonny Bill as a foal at a West Cork Horse Breeders sale in 2011. He was bought from his breeder James O’Keeffe, who also stands the winning sire Breeda Mountain, an Irish Draught by Rockrimmon Silver Diamond.

“We name all our horses after rugby players, so he’s named after Sonny Bill Williams!” said Pat’s daughter Elizabeth, a cattle specialist with Boehringer Ingelheim, explaining their name choice for their West Cork find, produced for them by Joanna Jones.

The charismatic grey impressed Amanda Butler and Alison Gladwin so much the visiting Yorkshire judges made him their ridden horse champion, ahead of Rosarie Collins on the middle/heavyweight hunter class winner Mick Dundee, by Brookfield Floating Lux.

“In general they [ridden entries] were mannerly and were all asked the same,” said ride judge Butler. “Some wowed us as soon as they walked in but unfortunately had a few conformation faults,” explained Gladwin, who found some horses were back of the knee. “For me, that’s a massive weakness,” she added.

Another delighted Cork combination were father-and-son team William and Aidan Williamson who won the overall pony title with their elegant yearling filly Goldengrove Temptress. She had seen off the challenge of her stable companion Hilin Ontario to win the earlier in-hand championship and was later Karl Morris’s supreme choice, ahead of Lucy Tuthill-Kingston’s Connemara gelding Lahaknock Shadow.

“We bought ‘Ellie’ as a three-day old foal from her breeders Claire Scott and Sarah Rymer at Goldengrove Stud,” said mathematical sciences student Aidan. He plans to continue showing the well-grown Goldengrove Starstruck filly this year, and although a cross-channel career under saddle is the next step, the family hope she will return to their Glandore base as a broodmare.