THE Irish Horse Centre (IHC) powered by the Mayo Roscommon Breeders’ Group (MRBG) is proud to present Edition 8 of The Breeders’ Select Foal Sale Ireland - now a well-established flagship foal sale run by the group for the first time in 2018 - on October 4th next.

“The 75 selected foals in Edition 8 have successfully met the selection criteria for individual biomechanical athleticism and dam line performance, which should bode well for the demands of the market and the sport on the day of the sale. As Team IHC/MRBG currently rewrites its sales strategy 2025-2030, we feel the strategy behind the foal sale has the breeders on the right track - which seemed like a challenging task back in 2018 when the sale began. After all, someone has to lead!” the team at IHC/MRBG commented.

Lot 45 is a dark bay filly by the powerhouse jumping stallion Comme Il Faut \ Hannah Boatman

Edition 8: The Breeders’ Select Foal Sale Ireland

Foals will be presented by vendors next Saturday, October 4th at Glennamaddy Equestrian Centre in Co Galway with viewing of foals from 9am. The official opening of the sale will be done by Independent TD Michael Fitzmaurice and Ireland EU MEP Ciaran Mullooly at 10.25am with the sale commencing at 11am sharp.

All foals are now available for viewing online via The Irish Horse Centre’s auction platform (www.ihc.auction), which will accommodate live bidding and streaming. The group aims to attract the international market via a worldwide social media campaign, promotion of its contract rearing and transport services, and, most importantly, sustain its mission for ‘relationship selling’ with its loyal international customer base.

Lot 71 is a filly by Creevagh Fero x OBOS Quality x Colin Diamond \ Hannah Boatman

Selection committee comments

The 2025 foal selection committee, which included William Green and Aoife McCabe, has concluded: “Yet again through our stringent foal selection process, we have refined the number of foals selected in Edition 8 to meet the market and sport demands based on experience of previously selected foals now appearing and performing well at national/international auctions and in the sport as young horses.

“As a selection committee, we continuously appraise our selection decisions and measurements largely supported by our online linear scoring system, upskilling of our inspection panel members via attendance at Warmblood Studbook of Ireland’s linear scoring event with KWPN Inspector Peter Strijbosch, pedigree performance and the ‘gut’ feeling of our selection panel.

“Yes, a good individual foal with great biomechanical athleticism fits the model for the sale, but we as a committee aspire to develop a ‘real-time’ pedigree performance evaluation tool that further facilitates better foal selection in the future. We are confident that Edition 8 will pay dividends to both breeders and producers/buyers in the years ahead.”

Lot 43 a colt foal by Peagase Van't Ruyerhof x Quickly De Kreisker x Cardento \ Hannah Boatman

Sires

The foal sire line-up is a rich array of well-established national, continental and up and coming young stallions in the sport and breeding. The sale features some stunning lots that have market appeal to owners and producers of event and show jumping horses in the UK, Europe and America.

Edition 8 has them all, featuring globally successful performance sires, including world-renowned sires Emerald Van’t Ruytershof, Hard Rock Z, Comthago Z, Big Star, Comme Il Faut, Tangelo de Zuuthoeve and SIEC Livello to name just a few. The collection also boasts a strong contingent of foals for eventing with solid eventing sires, such as OBOS Quality, Colin Diamond and Cavalier Royale appearing in a high percentage of dam line pedigrees with many CCI4* performers.

€3,000 euro for event foal breeders

Demands from horse producers finding it increasingly challenging to find quality three- and four-year-old young horses, have approached the group in recent years to source potential event horses at the foal stage.

To promote event horse breeding, Horse Sport Ireland (HSI) via Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine funding from Breeding Grants Initiatives, have allocated €3,000 for breeders of event-bred foals present at Edition 8. Yet again, another initiative by the group which aims to guide and reward the breeder for their breeding endeavours, while meeting demands of the market.

Collaboration has also been made by the group via The Irish Horse Board, who have funded the printing of the catalogue for Edition 8.

Foals in focus:

Show jumping:

  • Lot 28, an attractive chesnut colt by Candy Du Nantuel (Luidam) from the dam ‘Ballyscully Zara’ is steeped in strong dam sires by Cicero z Van Paemel x Baloubet Du Rouet. The damline performance has produced 1.20m to 1.60m performers ‘Chopin’ - 1.60m with Tim Rieskamp Godeking (GER), ‘Free and Easy B - CCI4*-S with Olesya Kosareva (RUS), ‘Dekato’ - 1.55m with Alexander Butler/Robert Whitaker and ‘Good Morning B’ - 1.60m with Rene Tebbel (UKR).
  • Lot 43, an early-born bay colt by Pegase Van’t Ruytershof from the dam ‘Quite Quickly Van’t Huka’ sire Quickly De Kreisker x Cardento, presents 1.45m to 1.60m performers early in the dam’s pedigree. ‘Faye Blue DP’ is a 1.45m performer with Nicolas Guerrero and ‘Uno II’ was a 1.60m performer with Annabella Pezzoli (ITA).
  • Lot 45, a dark bay filly by the powerhouse jumping stallion Comme Il Faut, ridden by Marcus Enhing, comes from a standout damline ‘Diamond Star’, sired by Dominator Z x Luidam. The damline includes 1.50m - 1.60m performers in the form of ‘Blue Angel’ 1.60m ridden by Kent Farrington (USA), ‘Luidams Warrior’ 1.60m ridden by Ireland’s Trevor Breen.
  • Lot 67, a chesnut colt born May 14th by the fashionable and athletic sport sire Ermitage Kalone from the Querlybet Hero x Mermus R dam has blacktype performance in the third and fourth damline up to 1.45m and boasts CCI4*-S Lislan Rockenroller ridden by Quinton George (RSA).

    • Eventing:

  • Lot 50 is a remarkable dun filly by aptly-named sire ‘Houghries Dare to Be Different’ (sire: Diamond Roller). A classic eventing damline performance should tickle the interest of event horse producers. The dam ‘Roll on Diaz’ is a full-sister to ‘Cooley Cross Border’ - CCI5* with Kimberly Severson (USA). The second dam ‘Who’s Diaz’ has also bred ‘Midnight Rollercoaster’ a CCI4*-S performer with Alison Lidstone (GBR). The fourth and fifth damlines are steeped in show jumping performance, including 1.55m to 1.60m performers ‘MHS Going Global’ (1.60m with Greg Broderick/Athena Onassis), Royal Anthem (1.55m with Nadine Steffen (SUI)).
  • Lot 71 is a bay filly born May 25th by the well-known event sire Creevagh Ferro from the dam ‘KSH Golden Quality’, by the sire OBOS Quality x Colin Diamond who has seen her offspring sell well in previous editions of the sale. The damline performance: Danewood Clover Lad (CNC2* with Owen Moore (GBR)), ‘Suzies Lad’ (1.50m with Dean Wilson) and ‘Fly The Flag’ (CCI4*-S with Rosie Thomas (GBR)).

    • For any enquiries concerning a wide variety of services offered by the group including online and phone bidding, transport services, contract rearing and young horse production, contact the national and international sales team members, via the website and follow the Irish Horse Centre on Facebook and Instagram.

    Contact Information:

    Web: www.ihc.auction

    IHC Office: 0906 643004

    Email: info@ihc.auction

    Follow us on Instagram: irishhorsecentre Facebook: Mayo Roscommon Breeders’ Group

    National sales team:

    Noel Kilroy: +353 (0) 87 2528473

    Mark Hester: +353 (0) 86 3572200

    John Murphy: +353 (0) 87 4183382

    Stall Patrick Hester (Norway): +47 96 911705

    Official opening ceremony: 10.25am

    Independent TD Michael Fitzmaurice/Ciaran Mullooly EU MEP

    Dates and start times:

    Edition 8 The Breeders’ Select Foal Sale Ireland

    Saturday, October 4th, 2025

    Venue: Glenamaddy Equestrian Centre,

    Glenamaddy, Co Galway

    Viewing from: 9am

    Sale starts: 11am