LAST year, they won the supreme hunter crown with Gleann Rua Da Vinci, last week it was a rare Irish Draught mare and stallion championship double for Grace Maxwell Murphy and William McMahon.

Their Edenagor Star was the overall stallion champion, having first won his section of the stallion classes, divided for safety reasons. By Dunsandle Diamond, he is out of the Carrickrock Close Shave mare Edenagor Rosie, now owned by the Glynn family in Athlone for whom she placed third at Dublin last August.

Reserve in this section was John Bracken’s home-bred six-year-old Scrapboy, based at Drumhowan Stud. A son of Bracken’s Mexican export Scrapman, he is out of the King Elvis dam, Phantom Queen. Third place went to Danielle Cusack’s eight-year-old Hollypark Diamond (Castlegar Fin Grove), bred by Tom Burke.

In the second section, it was another Tribesman win when Pat Hoare’s Moylough Legacy emulated his Dublin-winning sire Carrabawn Cross. Bred in Boyle, Co Roscommon, by John Gilboy, he is out of the Castana mare Ardcarne Vilamear. This liver chesnut 10-year-old has edged closer to the top of the Dublin line and was one of several that stood out in the previous day’s parade.

Second was Parkroe Stud owner Tommy McMahon’s Ludden Skywalker, another newly-approved three-year-old this year. By the late Luke Skywalker, the last Irish Draught stallion to stand at Clongeel Stud, he is out of the Shenandoah Prince Holly mare Cloncastle Hollie and was bred in Ballyneety, Co Limerick, by Eamonn Kennedy.

Third place went to Sean Barker’s veteran Gortfree Hero (Castana), a former three-time champion in this class and bred by Francis Lafferty.

The top-two from each section returned for the championship. Anything can happen in a championship, as seen by the earlier young horse championships, however William Moran and Yves Gay opted for both winners, placing Edenagor Star as their champion and Moylough Legacy as reserve.

The champion, one of a small group of three-year-old stallion champions - Kildalton Gold was another - was bred in Ballyshannon, Co Donegal, by Jim McNulty, who watched him from the ringside.

Memorable week

It was a memorable week for Grace who had piloted Patrick Curran’s ridden Connemara champion Glencarrig Douvan (Glencarrig Knight) the previous day when their Gleann Rua For Love took the Draught mare title.

“I suppose Irish Draughts are similar to Connemaras in that you want the same thing; lots of bone but combined with quality and movement and that’s very hard to find. Having produced Irish Draughts as ridden hunters, we wanted to break into the Irish Draught stallion scene and were looking for one to bring forward for inspection,” she said about their decision to buy Edenagor Star.

“He was entered in the Ireland West foal sale at Claremorris but it was during lockdown and Jim wasn’t travelling. I got his phone number off the RDS catalogue and we bought him as he had oodles of quality. We were absolutely blown away by him.

“We kept him and the filly [Gleann Rua For Love] on, she’ll be produced under saddle next. We had no notions of bringing Edenagor Star to Dublin as a three-year-old but when he started to furnish so well, we thought we would.”

Grace, who had the couple’s third son Archie just days beforehand, was at Cavan in March when Edenagor Star was approved as a Class 1.

“He got about 10 mares this year but we said we’d better bring him to Dublin so people can see him.

“I was tearful when I saw him go in the stallion parade, I thought he had a real chance and he moved beautifully. We’re absolutely made up about the whole thing!”