IT was only as I sat down to write this, that I realised how incredibly lucky I have been as a breeder so far. My farm is Hardingville in Co Cork and Terence’s farm is Ballynoe Castle Farm, near Newcastle West, Co Limerick. We’re now an amalgamation of the two farms, but there is still plenty of competition between us!
Terence’s family have a long, long history of buying and producing top-class sport horses, mainly eventers and show horses, five Olympic horses, numerous RDS champions and even Clearly Canadian (Leapman), a World Cup dressage finalist in Gothenburg.
I’m the one that has the breeding bug and I breed a few sport horses, thoroughbreds and Charolais cattle.
Every year, we have the last RDS young event horse qualifier at Ballynoe Castle, as part of Newcastle West agricultural show. We now run the class as a standalone competition on a Friday evening in July, with horses travelling from all over Ireland to compete in this three-year-old qualifier.
1. Proudest breeder moment?
This question took a lot of negotiating, as we are incredibly lucky to have so many to choose from: there’s Shutthefrontdoor, the 2014 Irish Grand National winner - he also won and placed second in Grade 1 races at Aintree and Cheltenham in the same season - to RDS and Eventing Ireland champions, but we finally landed unanimously on one.
It was a combined effort and we were both there on the day. It was winning the Gain Mares final in Ballynoe, Fermoy with Koyote, a mare I bred, trained by Terence and ridden by our neighbour Mikey O’Connor.
The fact that Koyote was alive to run at all was a miracle. She nearly died from sepsis 18 months prior from an infection that she contracted from the tiniest of grazes. We had the most wonderful vet in the late Derek Long, who went above and beyond the call of duty to save her. Sometimes it’s the ‘small’ wins that are the sweetest!
2. How many broodmares do you have?
We have an active band of about 10 mares between us. On the sport horse side, I have one Irish Draught mare by Grange Bouncer, in foal to Baltydaniel Golden Boy.
Fairytale (Robin de la Maison) represented Ireland at Le Lion d’Angers and she’s in foal to Der Senaat III.
And for my new venture in show jumping breeding, I have a Lux Z-Clover Hill mare in foal to Casago II, a nomination that I won at the Clarecastle Show, a huge loss to the showing calendar this year. Last, but not least, we have a pony foal due this year out of the four-star mare Moores Stream (Cavalier Two For Joy x Sky Boy).
Then we have thoroughbred mares in foal to a selection of young stallions.
I have to mention one more mare: Hurricane Girl (Strong Gale). Although she is no longer with us, I will be forever proud of her. She is buried here in Hardingville Milford under the chestnut trees. She was the mare that started it all, as she bred an Irish Grand National winner for me, while I was still in my 20s: Shutthefrontdoor.
We are lucky to have the dams of two current Grade 1 performers breeding at the moment and are excited to see what they produce this year.
The Deirdre Connolly-bred Shutthefrontdoor won the 2014 Irish Grand National under Barry Geraghty
3. Standout stallion on the current international scene?
I really like the Chacoon Blue progeny that I have seen and hope to use him this season. But, as I was doing my yearly research, I came across a new stallion at Zangersheide: J-Nius V.V.Z. His breeding is very interesting, as it goes back to Sky Boy and Ballyquirke Pride, who bred the 1.60m show jumper Powerscourt. Once you see him, I promise you won’t forget him. He’s on my short list too.
4. “Fools breed foals for wise men to buy.” Agree/disagree?
It is probably quite true. Terence always likes to buy a few foals and youngsters and has been very lucky. He bought Ballynoe Castle RM, an American eventing legend; Andromaque, a thoroughbred mare that competed at five-star and Silk Thread, who jumped to 1.60m.
But, there is something just a little sweeter, when it’s a home-bred that is out there doing you proud.
5. Famous horse you would like to have bred?
That brings us to Ballynoe Castle RM, has to be him. He is a horse that will forever be associated with Terence and Ballynoe Castle Farm, so it would have been nice to have bred him as well! That accolade goes to Sylvester Cullen.
Ballynoe Castle RM, or ‘Reggie’, and Buck Davidson. The USEA 2011 Horse of the Year was sold by Terence to longterm owners Carl and Cassie Segal
6. Prefixes, your thoughts?
I am probably the only breeder that’s not too bothered with prefixes, though I do think it should be the privilege of the breeder to give his foal a prefix that cannot be changed.
If the horse is not named until he is older, I don’t think it matters how many times the name is changed as I understand that the current owners may want to compete the horse under their own banner. I prefer simple, memorable names for horses, such as those Cian O’Connor is using like Fermoy and Kilkenny etc. I think it becomes a bit ridiculous when you see horses with multiple prefixes and names that read like a paragraph!
7. How do you market your horses?
I think we can sum that up in one word; badly! We still believe that the horses should do the talking for us but, unfortunately, we need to brush up our skills in this department. As long as our horses do well for the next person, we are happy. Most of our customers are return customers.
8. It takes a team. Who’s on yours?
Our team is huge; from my brother James, who helps keep the show on the road at home in Hardingville to Sarah Ennis, all the way up in Co Meath, who is doing amazing things with another home-bred mare, Onceuponatime, and Tommy, our farrier, who is often called upon to ride out, as well as shoe the horses!
There is one other person I must mention. He is not just on our team but on the team of every Irish Sport Horse breeder and that is Chris Ryan of Scarteen. There has been no voice as steadfast and unwavering in his support of the Irish horse as Chris.
9. Breeding/owning horses, would you do it all again?
In a heartbeat! But I wish I knew then what I know now and, in another 20 years time, I will probably be saying the same thing. With horses, you have no choice but to keep learning and keep improving.
10. That best piece of advice?
The day of breeding a horse and hoping for the best is well and truly gone. You have to be so specific in your goals and what your aim is, be it a show horse or a show jumper.
The event horse has to have enough movement, blood and attitude - we have such an amazing pool of top show jumpers that it’s now easy enough to add jump. There is a place for every horse, as long as he is purposely bred for a job.
And one last piece of advice, that the late Tommy Wade gave me, that has always stuck in my mind: “Deirdre, you will have to stop breeding racehorses and breed a few sales horses instead or you will die very poor!”