Susan Finnerty

BREEDING a good horse can often be a bonus point for a breeder but Woodsgift farmer Sean Power has gone one step further and cross-sells Master Frisky’s transatlantic success to American tourists. Sean, the breeder of the fourth highest-placed Irish bred eventer in the 2014 WBFSH rankings, and his wife Greta have already won several CIE Tours International hospitality awards for their Bungalow Farmhouse enterprise on the Kilkenny/Tipperary border.

Running a bed & breakfast in a competitive Irish market full of hotel deals is a challenge that the couple, who formed a co-op with three other local B&Bs to provide an authentic Irish experience, have turned to their marketing advantage.

“We might have tours that stayed in Ashford Castle the night before but the guests are fascinated by the fact that we live on the farm and the links with the countryside.”

Pride of place on their farm tours is Frisky Legs, the dam of Boyd Martin’s four-star eventer and one of five broodmares owned by the busy Kilkenny farmer, who also has a beef and sheep enterprise.

“I bought an oldish thoroughbred mare by Henbit for €800 in Sligo, she was already in foal to Coopers Hill and she [Frisky Legs] was that foal.” Described as “a real traditional half-bred mare, anyone who’s seen her says she’s the real deal to cover with a thoroughbred stallion,” she has already produced several offspring by Power Blade and Harlequin Du Carel, with one three-year-old Harlequin filly retained by her breeder. The Clover Hill son Coopers Hill and Golden Master are not fully approved, Harlequin Du Carel was previously in the S1 ranks but these classifications do not overly concern Power.

“No, I wouldn’t be awfully worried about it. Look at Paddy Quirke with Harlequin and Olympic Lux, they have bred some super horses.” He is full of praise for stallion owners like the Quirkes and Hattons, adding: ”What I would like to see is that the breeders and stallion owners would be treated equally, you rarely hear about them when a horse does well. Without this connection between the two, there is no horse and if it wasn’t for The Irish Field or the Irish Farmers Journal, we wouldn’t know about a lot of these horses and people.”

In fact, he sold the Master Imp colt foal from an Irish Farmers Journal advertisement. “I sold him out of the yard as a foal and heard no more about him until he was in America. The trouble with this game is it was too late for us to realise how good Master Frisky was. If he was a racehorse, we’d have known sooner, it takes a lot longer for a sport horse.”

Although Master Imp died in 2007, Power has come up with a Plan B. “Some of the visitors know about Master Frisky so I tell them: ‘I can’t breed his brother or sister but hopefully I’ll end up next Spring with his first cousin!’” he says, having covered Boyd Martin’s Fair Hill International runner-up with Master Imp’s son, Golden Master this year.

Sean’s son Eamon found the Pennsylvania-based Martin “very approachable” when he contacted him via his website. “He was really interested in the horse and looked for more info about him. Hopefully he’ll be in the frame for the American Olympic team.”

Master Frisky’s story also shows how concepts such as bed & breakfast owners and farmer-breeders can still be competitive in the tourism and sport horse breeding markets. “Farms ..that’s where all the good horses came from!” says Power.

MASTER FRISKY

Second: Fair Hill International CCI***

Second: Raeford CIC***

Sixth: Norwood CIC***

Seventh: Lexington CCI****