DHF ALLIANCE ridden by Commandant Geoff Curran and owned by Jessica Stallard and The Minister for Defence was named the seven and eight-year-old Irish Breeders’ Championship last Sunday in Barnadown, Co Wexford.

Bred by Paul Douglas, the mare is by Ard VDL Douglas, out of Rosie Bee (Lux Z). She was produced at Danville House Farm in Kilkenny by Jessica Stallard before being leased to the Irish Army Equitation school at the end of her five-year-old year.

She had enjoyed plenty of success under Captain Charlene Keogh as a six-year-old placing in several rounds of the Studbook Series as well as finishing fourth at the 2021 Dublin Horse Show and sixth in the Irish Breeders’ Classic that year.

Comdt. Curran took over the ride in 2022 and the pair recorded several double clears in 1.40m National Grand Prix classes. This year they won the RDS qualifier in Mullingar in June, as well as winning the 1.35m at the international show at the same venue.

Blood horse

“Charlene (Keogh) did a great job with her as a six-year old and mid-way through her seven-year-old year I got the ride of her,” Curran commented. “She is a really blood horse, she always wants to go so when you get into a jump-off scenario and you can let her go that’s where she’s happiest; when she is allowed to have a good gallop.

“She’s very careful and is deceptively quick. She’s not the biggest horse in the world but she can leave out strides very easily and every stride she takes is very quick. She’s quick in the air and because she’s so careful you don’t have to set her up for the fences.

“She was very good in Dublin, she just had one fence down each day but they were all at very different fences so I think being there and in the main ring was a very good learning curve for her.

“She is a mare that enjoys being competitive and is very good against the clock. On Sunday, I was slower than I wanted to be from fence two to three, I left out a stride, as everyone that was going competitively did, but it was the speed at which she covers that ground that won it for me.

“I didn’t see Clem go, but I was quite comfortable that she would be quicker. If I rode the same line as he did and did the same number of strides between the fences, I was confident that we would be faster and she was, which was great.”

Comdt. Curran confirmed DHF Alliance will be going to the Valkenswaard WBFSH Global Champions Trophy later this month as part of the Irish Studbook team.

Sponsored by the Fitzpatrick family in memory of a great supporter of show jumping in Ireland, the late Leslie Fitzpatrick, the final offered a prize fund of €10,000. Just six of the 30 starters managed to keep a clean sheet through round one to progress to the timed decider.

Oliver Glancy and his own Clonterm Obolensky (Cornet Obolensky x Lux Z), bred by Brian Duff, set the pace with a clear in a time of 37.32 for eventual fourth place.

Next in, Jason Foley and Castlefield Breeding Farm’s Belgian-bred Mister Qerly Z (Mosito VH Hellehof x For Pleasure) also left the fences intact in a slightly faster 36.53 for third. Clem McMahon, riding GBBS Ltd’s French-bred mare Grand Prix DK, went one better with a clear round in 35.83 for the runner-up spot.

Mikey Pender was fourth to go aboard Bravo Hughes’ home-bred HHS Cyprus (Cornet Obolensky x Acorado). They were unlucky to have one fence down for four faults in 36.98 and sixth place. The penultimate pair in, Jason Foley and A Class Sport Horses’ mare Luna Leva, produced a clear round in 37.93 for fifth.

As last to go Comdt. Curran knew what he had to do and steered DHF Alliance to a foot-perfect round in 34.40, over a second and a half faster than the closest rival to secure the top spot.