NO less than four previous winners are due to return for year’s Irish Draught stallion classes, sponsored by the Department of Food, Agriculture & the Marine.

As has been the format in recent years, the Irish Draught stallion championship is divided into two sections (the spectators’ first view of the entries will be on ‘Draught Day’ next Thursday at 1.25 pm for the customary parade, followed by the actual judging on the following day (Friday) at 1.15 pm, all in Ring 1). The judges this year are Elizabeth Cooke and Jonathan Geake.

P.J Fitzpatrick’s Carrabawn Cross, the winner a decade ago, returns, as do both of his Dublin-winning sons - Pat Hoare’s full-brother pair of Moylough Legacy and Moylough Supremacy, both Dublin winners too. P.J will also bring his Balcormo Sir Dun Cliff (Offaly Clover).

In fact, Moylough Supremacy is the reigning Dublin champion and bids to retain that title against a field that includes the 2023 champion: Grace Maxwell Murphy’s Edenagor Star (Dunsandle Diamond), making him the fourth previous winner in this class.

Last year saw the unique sight of three generations in the Irish Draught stallion class: Sean Barker’s pair of triple champion Gortfree Hero (Castana), his son Gortfree Lakeside Lad and then grandson in Fuerty Welcome Lad, owned by Gabriel Slattery Jnr.

Of this trio, just Gortfree Lakeside Lad returns and Barker’s grey is a Dublin winner in Ring 2, having previously won both the performance and working hunter titles.

On performance matters, Ann Lambert’s Ashfield Bouncer (Killinick Bouncer), the only purebred Irish Draught to win the performance three-year-old final here (2021), returns to Dublin.

Traditionally, several owners of successful graduates from the Horse Sport Ireland springtime stallion inspections follow up with a Dublin appearance. Amongst that group are this year’s pair of Maeve Carty’s Birchill Sir Ivor (Cloneyhea Spellbound) and Peter McHugh’s Seans Supremacy (Moylough Supremacy), while from the Cavan class of 2025, Seamus Duffy’s Kilmovee White Lion (Lionwood Kinsales Lad) is another entry.

Several previously-placed stallions such as John Bracken’s Scrapboy (Scrapman), reserve to Edenagor Star in their class three years ago, return, while Western stallion owners continue to support the Irish Draught stallion classes in the greatest numbers.

Scrapboy, along with three others, also has a For Sale tag, meaning that potential new owners of an Irish Draught stallion will have several possibilities to consider.