Margie McLoone

ORGANISERS of the Dublin Horse Show are unwilling to furnish The Irish Field with the entries for the bulk of the classes which make up next week’s showing programme but have no such reluctance when it comes to the racehorse to riding horse class.

Un Atout, winner last year under owner Alison Clancy, is returning to defend his title on the back of victory in the Irish Horse Welfare Trust Thoroughbred Club retrained racehorse show series at the recent Tattersalls July Show.

Earlier in the year, he was champion ex-racehorse at the Northern Ireland Festival in Cavan and reserve champion at Balmoral.

The 10-year-old Robin Des Champs gelding won a bumper and three hurdle races when trained by Willie Mullins for Gigginstown House Stud and the bay’s Grade 1 victory, in the Tattersalls Ireland Champion Novice Hurdle at the 2013 Punchestown Festival, came under Davy Russell.

The current Irish champion National Hunt jockey, Russell is ride judge for next Saturday’s class and British trainer Colin Tizzard, who saddled Native River to win this year’s Cheltenham Gold Cup, will assess conformation.

Only seven of the 17 rivals Un Atout faced last year are entered for this year’s class but they include the third-placed Nanaimo, who too has been showing good recent form on the ex-racehorse circuit in Northern Ireland under owner Rachel Ferres and Gerard Spain’s fourth-placed Noble Prince, the mount of Kim Ronan.

Another prepared to do battle again is Nicki Russell’s Sizing Australia who was champion ex-racehorse at Balmoral in May.

DON COSSACK

Among the newcomers this year is Don Cossack who carried the Gigginstown House Stud colours to victory in the 2016 Cheltenham Gold Cup when trained by Gordon Elliott.

Now in the care of leading show horse producer Louise Lyons, the 11-year-old German-bred Sholokhov gelding was reserve to Un Atout at Tattersalls where, on the Sunday, he was also reserve champion in the IHWT Thoroughbred Club working hunter series having won the previous day’s qualifier.

Another making his Dublin Horse Show debut is Gigginstown’s Rule The World who was saddled by Mouse Morris to win the 2016 Aintree Grand National. The 11-year-old British-bred Sulamani gelding will be ridden by Emily Taylor who won the inaugural running of the small event horse championship at the show in 2011 on Small And Mighty, an unraced thoroughbred by Danetime.

An ex-flat horse heading for the RDS for the first time is the 10-year-old Halling gelding Certerach who will be ridden by Carol Spain. Previously owned by Castlewellan’s Paul Rooney, the bay is now in the care of Louise Halford whose husband Michael trained Certerach to win four races including the 2014 running of the lucrative Dubai Gold Cup over two miles.

The Irish Thoroughbred Marketing racehorse to riding horse class takes place at 1.05pm in Ring One next Saturday.