NICOLA Perrin won Sunday’s hunter championship at the Tattersalls Ireland July Show on Solsboro Zeus who, on entering the Main Arena for the championship judging, quickly became favourite to lift the title among the ringside audience.

It’s not hard to understand why, as the Dignified Van’t Zorgvliet four-year-old is a tall, dark bay who immediately catches the eye. Also, beautifully-produced and ridden by Perrin, he never put a foot wrong in the Main Arena, where work on building the track for the Plusvital Premier Series Grand Prix continued, while England’s Rebecca Baker (ride) and Simon Somers (conformation) judged the six horses forward.

Lined up after the gallop, Solsboro Zeus was first called forward as the four-year-old champion and he was then crowned the Lynskey Engineering ridden hunter champion, with John and Deirdre Burchill’s lightweight five-year-old Ballard Bridge Boy standing reserve. This was the same order the two geldings occupied in the hunter section of the Connolly’s Red Mills champion of champions series final at Barnadown two weeks earlier.

The 2024 Tattersalls Ireland champion was bred in Co Wexford by Simon McCarthy out of the Cavalier Royale mare Cavalier Cushinstown Cruis.

One of the judges at the Wicklow Summer Show that day was Garryrichard Stud’s Denis Hickey, who was at Tattersalls on Sunday mainly to watch the family’s Casago jump in, and win, the Grand Prix, but took time out earlier in the day to go over to the showing field to see Solsboro Zeus.

Unfortunately, he was a bit late to watch the class in the Everything IT Computer Systems ring, where Perrin always stood top of the line-up and took the red, ahead of Jamie Smyth on the six-year-old Orestus gelding, Austenaco.

In the preceding lightweight class, the Balmoral supreme champion Madra Rua topped the initial line-up, but the Loughehoe Guy five-year-old was dropped down to third behind the Burchills’ Ballard Bridge Boy, a bay son of Condios, and the Yvonne Pearson-owned and ridden Cairnview Redwood Guy, a 10-year-old Loughehoe Guy gelding.

Irish Draughts

A feature of the showing section at Tattersalls over the weekend was the large number of Irish Draught horses competing in a variety of classes. Three of the four entries in the heavyweight class were Draughts including the winner, Cheryl Whiteley’s Moylough Falcon, a five-year-old grey gelding by Mountain Diamond. The weight classes were all qualifiers for next week’s Royal International Horse Show in Hickstead.

As he was going to turn out in the ladies’ side saddle class, Cairnview Redwood Guy didn’t make the short trip up to the Main Arena for the hunter championship, but the four-year-old heavyweight winner from Saturday, Darren Jordan’s Seanchai, an Irish Draught gelding by Gortfree Hero, did take his place in the Main Arena.

Aubrey Chapman didn’t return with Saturday’s four-year-old lightweight winner, his home-bred Bannvalley Silver Dancer gelding, Thunder Storm, nor did Perrin bring back her small hunter class winner, Stoneman Team Spirit, a four-year-old gelding by Dunsandle Diamond. The winner of the hunter mares’ class on day one was Brian Egan’s RSH Strings Attached, a five-year-old chesnut by Gortfree Hero, who was ridden by her breeder, Maura Rooney.

Elegant

It certainly adds to the sense of occasion to have the hunter championship judged in the Main Arena at Tattersalls and, when doing a bit of ear-wigging, it’s always interesting to hear what those present, mainly to watch the show jumping, or enjoy the social scene, have to say about the ridden hunters. One girl was so smitten by Solsboro Zeus that when he was upset by a horse fly, she commented: “His kick is so elegant!”

Simon Somers was more serious.

“Today’s horses have been superb,” stated the conformation judge.“They were beautifully presented and very well-schooled. It’s nice to see such quality horses and it’s good to see that the Irish horses are not overfat.”

One of the duties of the showing judges over the two days was to select a winner for a Carr & Day & Martin turn-out award in each championship and here this was presented to the Burchills for Ballard Bridge Boy.

After the Jimmy Ryan Perpetual Trophy was presented to Nicola Perrin, the Main Arena wasn’t immediately handed back to the show jumping fraternity as, prior to their appearance at the upcoming Dublin Horse Show, 21 and a half couple of Ballymacad Foxhounds were paraded in the Tattersalls ring.