Susan Finnerty
WARRENSTOWN YOU 2
1998. 168cms
HSI classification: Approved
THE news of Warrenstown You 2’s retirement from show jumping may have brought the curtain down on the career of Ronan Tynan’s consistent Grand Prix horse, but has now opened up exciting opportunities for breeders.
Since his first outing at Aglish Gymkhana back in 2002, he and Tholm Keane rose up through the ranks to compete up to 1.60m level at CSI0***** shows.
Their record includes being the anchor member for the victorious Irish Nations Cup team at Ypäjä in 2010 and a string of other international placings, including Drammen and Dublin.
The pair also finished second in The Ballsbridge Hotel Accumulator and third in the Failte Stakes at the 2012 Discover Ireland Dublin Horse Show, while during the 2010 season with Shane Breen, Warrenstown You 2 also won the Comporta Grand Prix and placed fifth at Dortmund.
His exceptional record on home ground has also led to Warrenstown You 2 becoming the highest points earning stallion in the SJI database during his 13-year career. He has gathered 754 points, edging out Cruising the next highest stallion, by 10 points.
With numerous Grand Prix wins and top-six placings, his stellar record includes being crowned the leading horse in the national Grand Prix league on three occasions. Add in two Premier League titles, plus another Guidam league leading horse crown and his record of consistency speaks for itself. Another remarkable feature about Warrenstown You 2 is his strike rate as a sire. As his career was paramount to his connections, he has covered less than 100 mares to date and has still produced Dublin prizewinners and potential Olympic horses from this small crop.
Amongst his relative handful of progeny are U2 Kelly who went on to jump internationally, Redmills Warrenstown Lass, You Two Norma and the promising Mr O’Brien To You, who repeated his sire’s consistent Dublin form. Owned by William O’Brien, the five-year-old placed third in the opening class at Dublin last August, then won Friday’s qualifier and went on to finish fourth in the Flexible final with Gemma Phelan.
Warrenstown You 2 has also marked himself as a potential top-class event sire with Carol Gee’s nine-year-old Fernhill Revelation and Balham Houdini, owned in partnership by Austin O’Connor and Kate Jarvey. Both horses were bred by Tynan and were recently named as part of Horse Sport Ireland’s high performance squad ahead of Rio 2016. Both are Hallo dams, with that sire going back to the great French influence Almé Z. French breeding again comes through in Warrenstown You 2, sourced as a yearling from his breeder Harron Eakin Farms in Co Down.
His sire Narcos II, line-bred to the brilliant Ibrahim, competed at the 1988 Seoul Olympics with Eric Navet. The French pair were constant features of numerous Nations Cup teams, including wins at Aachen, Hickstead, La Baule and Spruce Meadows.
With French rider Florian Angot, the stallion also won an individual gold medal at the 1991 European junior riders championship in Bourg-en-Bresse, where they were also part of the bronze medal team. Ibrahim, from the famous Orange Peel line, was the sire of Alme Z who produced such world-calibre descendants as Galoubet A and Baloubet Du Rouet.
Twist Du Vallon, McLain Ward’s 1998 American Horse of the Year, Roelof Bril’s Tangelo Van Zuuthoeve and Viking Du Tillard, the 1996 French champion with Hervé Godignon, are two of Narcos II’s other international performers.
In another top-level link, Narcos II is also the damsire of Nino Des Buissonnets who won an individual gold medal at the 2012 Olympic Games for Swiss ace Steve Guerdat. Dilettante, Warrenstown You 2’s dam, was by the Anglo-European sire Ico Sun, known as Daz during his competition career with John Whitaker. Both he and Whitaker’s legendary grey Milton, by Caroline Bradley’s Marius, were grand-sons of the Dutch sire Marco Polo.
Warrenstown You 2 now stands at the Quirke family’s Ballymureen Stud and this move to their Tipperary base, together with his retirement after a lengthy Grand Prix career makes this ultra-consistent performereven more accessible to breeders.
BALLYMUREEN STUD
Contact: Ballymureen Stud, Littleton, Co Tipperary
Telephone: 086 2542195
Email: ballymureenstud@gmail.com