IN its fifth year, the finals of the Connolly’s Red Mills champion of champions series moved away from the Dublin/Meath area to Co Wexford where, in conjunction with Showing Ireland, they were held during the Wicklow Hunt show at Barnadown last Sunday.

The judges for the three sections – ridden hunters, ridden horses and amateur-ridden hunters – were Co Mayo’s Tiernan Gill (conformation), sport horse breeder/producer and chairman of the Irish Horse Board, and Great Britain’s Margaret Hopkins (ride), stable manager at Badminton.

Eight qualifiers were staged throughout the country, starting at Balmoral in May and ending on July 9th at Dungarvan Agricultural Show where Sunday’s ridden hunter champion of champions, and the series’ champion four-year-old, the Irish Sport Horse gelding Mighty Power, qualified under Rosemary Connors.

By the deceased Dutch thoroughbred stallion Watermill Swatch, Mighty Power is owned by the now Carlow-based Deirdre Kane whose husband, Roland Dalton, and mother, Mary Kane, bred the bay out of Killmac Z. That 2001 Ricardo Z mare died in 2021, six weeks after foaling a colt (Mighty Congo) by Billy Congo.

Mighty Power is the only other produce out of Killmac Z who was very much a family horse. “We bought the mare as a five-year-old and Roland did a lot of amateur jumping with her at first before my sister, Grainne Alexander, took over the ride from the summer of 2009 through to the summer of 2012,” said Kane who remains as secretary of Greenhills Riding Club.

“I rode her in the lightweight mares’ class at Dublin, Grainne jumped her on the Greenhills team in 2011, I competed with her in dressage up to Medium level and we then gave her to Lorna Keogh (O’Hare). Lorna did some showing with the mare, including side saddle, and a lot of dressage – both with the AIRC (Association of Irish Riding Clubs) and with Dressage Ireland.” Killmac Z last competed in 2017 before retiring to stud.

“Mighty Power was a horse with a big frame so I was in no hurry with him,” said Kane of her champion. “He was very, very raw but well handled when going to Rosemary in February. She broke him and had him riding away before sending him home for about six weeks. He wasn’t long back with her before qualifying at Dungarvan for the finals. I was worried about ‘Teddy’ taking on older, proven horses on Sunday but he took it all in his stride. I have to say, I quite enjoyed playing the total owner and not having to do anything.”

Busy

Whether Kane will be called into action as groom for the four-year-old lightweight geldings’ class at Dublin we will have to wait and see but she is going to be extremely busy anyway. On the Saturday, her eight-year-old daughter Louisa Daisy Dalton will be competing in the 138cms Junior Equitation class in Simmonscourt where, the following afternoon, Roland and Grainne will compete for Greenhills in the AIRC team show jumping championship final.

“Louisa thinks that Teddy will be her Olympic horse sometime in the future but, while he would be hard to replace, we may end up selling him,” concluded Kane who turned to Rosemary Connors in 2013 and 2014 to ride the Alexander-bred Ricardo Z gelding Mighty Clever at Dublin where they won their large riding horse class and were twice reserve champions in that section.

Aimee Stunt was beckoned into the reserve/second place spot on board Amanda Benson’s home-bred Flurry Knox, runner-up also in the four-year-old championship to Mighty Power. This small hunter qualified for the finals at both Raheendaw and Ballyfoyle. The grey Irish Draught gelding by Gortfree Lakeside Lad is out of Garinion Na Sleibhte (by Mountain Diamond).