‘THIRD time’s a charm’ proved true for Tom Ormond at the Irish Draught Horse Society (IDHS) national breed show last Saturday in Ballinasloe.

Last year, his Cappa Lady Sylva won the supreme championship here; then just the previous weekend, it was the turn of his yearling filly Whiteside Bella to win another supreme championship for the Templemore dairy farmer at the Irish Draught Horse Breeders Association (IDHBA) national show in Punchestown.

She followed up with a second supreme title on just her third showring outing after she was the combined judges’ choice for overall IDHS honours on a swelteringly hot day in the Ballinasloe Showgrounds. Standing reserve supreme was Liam Lynskey’s broodmare champion DS Bounce With Me Baby.

A clash with Strokestown Show’s feature Irish Draught broodmare championship dented entries, however John Corbett was pleased with the standard, saying: “It was a good day and the stock were actually very good, especially the young horses. She [Whitefield Bella] had the edge in quality and step and overall she’s just a nice filly.”

He and fellow Tipperaryman Richard Mooney made Ormond’s Cappa Cassanova filly their youngstock champion, ahead of Marcus and Emma Donnellan’s three-year-old filly Miss Suileen Bouncer.

All Smiles: Liam Lynskey and broodmare championship sponsor Peter McHugh with DS Bounce With Me Baby on her last show of 2023 at the IDHA National Show held in the Ballinasloe Showgrounds \ Susan Finnerty

Bonus

By the Dublin triple champion stallion Cappa Cassanova, Whitefield Bella is the second offspring of her Carrabawn Cross - Silver Granite dam, Dowdstown Gabby.

“I bought her mother - Dowdstown Gabby - from James Hoare after she was second in her RDS class.

“She was foaled in late June which suited because of dairy farming commitments, so we wouldn’t be on the show circuit until later in the summer. It’s a nice distraction for me after the calving season to look forward to a couple of foals. Our two girls, Sara Jayne and Moira, are a big help at home and are very good with the foals. We do it, not for rosettes, but for the love of the breeding. The rosette is a bonus.

“We took her to Nenagh where she was champion young horse, then Punchestown and now today. She has a lovely temperament and has achieved more than we could have expected, we’ll leave her now until next year,” said a delighted Tom.

It was the end of DS Bounce With Me Baby’s year too. “She’ll go out in the field on the way home,” confirmed Liam Lynskey about his Dublin reserve broodmare champion by his own late Moylough Bouncer out of Diamond Princess (Mount Diamond Flag). Bred in Ballaghdereen, Co Roscommon by Brendan Duffy, the nine-year-old mare will go back under saddle once her Black Shadow foal is weaned.

Judges Paddy O’Donnell and Alice Copitorne with their IDHS national show ridden champion Cloonan Hector, piloted by Zohra Smyth. Also pictured are steward John Kelly and owners Damien McCormack and Chris Carter at the IDHA National Show held in the Ballinasloe Showgrounds \ Susan Finnerty

Booming

“Not a hope!” replied Lynskey when asked if this Connemara-Irish Draught colt was for sale. “I loved him the minute I saw him. We’ll cover ‘Baby’ with Black Shadow again as I’d like a filly that could add some Connemara blood in the Irish Draught herd through the Grade-Up scheme.”

The Derryronane Stud owner brought a lorryload to Ballinasloe as Hannah Gordon and DS Ballagh Bouncer provided a ‘Riverdance’-theme dressage display during the lunchbreak. He’s also the sire of last Saturday’s Mare of the Future champion Miss Suileen Bouncer as Marcus and Emma Donnellan’s good run continued with their home-bred three-year-old, another in foal to a Connemara: Anbally Storm.

Oranmore owner Pat Finn steadily built up a collection of reserve sashes throughout Saturday. Kentucky Dancer (Scrapman) was the reserve Mare of the Future, (also shown by Pat’s grandson Aaron to take the blue in the young handler class) and Cornaroya Aphrodite (Dunsandle Diamond) stood reserve champion mare, as well as winning one of the John Anthony Cogan memorial premiums.

Finn’s big win came in the foal championship, judged by Diane Gibson and Philip Copithorne, won by Cornaroya Aphrodite’s filly by the Touch of the Blues son Zeus of the Blues, ahead of Michael O’Doherty’s Young Carrabawn colt.

The ridden Irish Draught market is booming. “You can ride them today and you don’t have to ride them for two or three weeks and just hop up. And if you want to teach them something, they remember,” John Corbett remarked.

Ridden champion

Last Saturday’s versatile, good-natured champions are four-legged proof.

Always in the top ribbons, Cloonan Hector was Alice Copithorne and Paddy O’Donnell’s ridden champion. Bred by Mayoman Tom Fitzgerald, the 11-year-old is by Clew Bay Bouncer out of Warren Wendy (Crannagh Hero) and is owned by Chris Carter and Damien McCormack.

“I took up the reins this year as Chris and Damien bought Centrepiece Rosettes,” explained deputy pilot Zohra Smyth. “Hector is the ultimate Irish Draught, he’s so versatile, from showing, workers, hunting, sidesaddle. He does everything.”

A three-time finalist in the Irish Draught performance and side-saddle classes at Dublin, another summer win was the IDHBA Laois show supreme title.

“He looks like a real happy fellow that could well do anything. He rides very well and has a lovely outlook on everything,” commented Alice.

The reserve went to Murrisk Lad, bred at the foot of Croagh Patrick by Michael Grady. “‘Leo’ is a six-year-old by Cappa Amadeus out of Michael’s oldest broodmare Murrisk Lass, by Brown Lad Lara. He’s only back in work three weeks after an extended holiday since last October!” said Michael’s daughter Amy.

And there was a special reason for Leo’s holiday as Amy and partner Peter Heraty’s six-week-old daughter Allie was at the show too.

“She had a great day, lead-rein here we come! It’s easy to get back when I’ve a gentle giant like Leo to take care of me. I broke him and have ridden him since he was a three-year-old, so we know each other fairly well.”

‘You get a real sense of the temperature of the industry’ – Denis Duggan

HORSE Sport Ireland (HSI) CEO Denis Duggan and HSI geneticist Jennifer Doyle were ringside. “It’s a great opportunity to get out and meet breeders attending shows. You know, we can get consumed by some of the challenges that that are in the industry and there’s often a case where it’s a bit like whoever’s loudest around the kitchen table at home gets all the attention,” Duggan commented.

“Whereas, when you come out to a show like this, you’re meeting the grassroots of the industry, breeders up and down the country and you get a real sense of actually what is the temperature of the industry and what are the real challenges that people have. Talking to breeders at various shows over to summer, there are concerns about the rising costs of feed in particular, no different than last year, but I think the impact is starting to hit this year.

“The vast majority of breeders are the farmer-breeder, with one or two broodmares at home. We did some significant research last year and the majority of horses are in herds of less than five. So while a lot of the attention and even the media attention might be for the bigger yards, it’s actually not the reality of the make-up of the industry. It’s a broad base.”

As referred to in last week’s The Irish Field, HSI have requested an additional €1.5 million in funding from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM). “Our pre-Budget submissions have gone into the Department and so again that goes back to the point I mentioned, that all grassroots breeders have difficulties with the price of feed, fuel and even electricity. Every one of us can relate to this when you see quadrupling of bills.”