IT’S always interesting, while waiting for a championship result, to look at the names engraved on a show’s range of silverware. Some exhibitors are still on the show scene every weekend; others are gone, while the four-legged prize winners are sometimes a mix of still going-strong campaigners or ‘Where are they now?’ puzzles.

For the Connell family from Mullingar, to finally add their name to the Frank Kilkenny Memorial Cup presented for the hunter champion at Longford Show, was a long-coveted ambition and one that was finally achieved last Sunday.

There was a jockey change though, as with Megan Connell’s second baby due within a fortnight, it was her brother Christopher who took over Toberpatrick Ruby’s reins for the mare’s third successive win in the small hunter class.

“I joked to Chris during the week that ‘no pressure but Ruby has won the smalls in Longford for three years in a row’. I didn’t think he would outdo me and go ahead and win the championship too, something me and Ruby haven’t managed in Longford!” Megan said, watching from the sidelines.

By the Huntingfield Rebel son Rosheen Yeats and out of the Clover Park x Regular Guy dam, Loughmogue Blossom, Sunday’s champion was bred by Douglas F Byrne.

Megan, a keen ambassador for side saddle classes, and her 17-year-old chesnut mare are frequent winners in both small hunter and side saddle and jocking Chris off may be an issue.

“It could be a difficult journey now, getting Ruby back off him! He gets a fantastic tune out of her, to be fair to him.”

With the pair sitting out this year’s Longford’s side saddle class, it was a win here for Dermot Hebron’s pure-bred Irish Draught Derisney Glen Cool Dancer, produced by Ciara Dennigan.

The same combination were called forward as judges Aoife Keogh (ride) and Jill Revill’s (conformation) reserve choice in the ridden horse championship.

Dermot’s home-bred reserve is by the Dublin multi-champion Crosstown Dancer out of Glensmill Cool Silver Legend, a Coolcronan Wood x Ard Grandpa mare.

The ridden Irish Draught market boom is gratifying, considering what colt foal prices were like when those former champion names were added to Longford and other countrywide shows’ cups and trophies, most recently after the Celtic Tiger crash.

Perfect birthday gift

Another similar resurgence are the popular Treo Eile racehorse to riding horse classes and it was a clean sweep at Longford for four past graduates of Dot Love’s Charlestown yard.

Top of the line-up was Emily Murphy’s birthday gift, Lily Bobtail.

“She’s a six-year-old Harzand mare, bred by the late Liam Gavin, who was a great friend of my husband Ciaran Murphy, who trained her. She didn’t show enough form, Ciaran was stuck for a birthday present for me and it was easier than going to the shops!

“She’s a typical filly. When she’s good, she’s very good and other times she’s testing!”

The judges felt Sunday’s ridden horse standard was good, saying: “We had some really nice horses, some coming up for Dublin again.

“The champion was elegant and gave a really good gallop. A good gallop holds the right lead and extends and, overall, the picture just has to be nice for a winner,” added Aoife.

The Dot Love winning streak continued in the working hunter classes, judged by Olivia Holohan and Donal McGrath. Their champion was her Presenting gelding Michael’s Pick, ridden by Evita Thompson.

A winner over fences and two point-to-points, the 12-year-old claimed the champion’s sash, ahead of the ultimate mother-daughter ‘ride share’ and reserve working hunter champion, It’s Miller Time.

Anne Nixon and daughter Leila Oakman’s distinctive grey, by Prince of Thieves, notched up yet another win for his Athlone owners, following on from his Athlone success.

Its Miller Time has set the bar high for his stable companion Cornfield Fusion, Nixon and Oakman’s second reserve champion at Longford. This was in the Connemara championship, where the Bunowen Paddy grey, the winner of the opening ridden class, stood reserve.

Lucky By Name: Sinead McGrath’s Lucky Ransom, the Longford Connermara champion \ Susan Finnerty

Busy day

Several of Sunday’s Connemara exhibitors had a full weekend, having been at the North East Connemara Show in Slane the previous day. Judge Philip Morgan’s champion Connemara at Longford came from west of the Shannon; this was Claregalway owner Sinead McGrath’s Lucky Ransom, by Glencarrig Knight, winner of the in-hand mare class.

A home-bred, Lucky Ransom was the supreme champion at Roundstone Show last summer, a timely reminder that this year’s show takes place next Sunday. Her stable companion Lucky Bonnie, by Drumbad Fletcher Moss, was the reserve Connemara champion at last year’s Longford show.

Caroline Giles-Lee had the usual delightful country show mix of pony classes to select her champion from. Last year’s reserve champion - Ella O’Connor’s lead rein class winner Sarum Remus - went one better 12 months later by claiming the champion’s sash and reserve was Emma Glass’s I Love You Melody gelding, Paddy Tom, wbo also picked up a green ribbon in his working hunter pony class.

Marion Condren and Sharon Mannion had a busy day judging in the adjoining in-hand horses ring.

The earlier young horse classes had separate three-year-old gelding and filly sections, while the yearling and two-year-old classes were each combined, a growing trend with shrinking young horse entries.

Similarly, broodmare and foal entries were low with the now usual three or less entries, as seen at most of this summer’s shows. Rising costs not balancing the books after a day at a show, less of the traditional farmer-breeders on the circuit and clashing shows are some of the ringside theories about the ongoing drop.

However, Moate dairy and beef farmer Brian Daly bucked that trend when he won the opening yearling class with his home-bred Swaziland Star. Lack of help is another factor often mentioned for the fall-off in exhibitors, although in Brian’s case, he left the production side in the capable hands of Maura Rooney.

By the Irish Draught sire Steeped In Luck, Swaziland Star’s dam Lucabelle is by another Tullaghansleek Stud stallion in Star Kingdom, this was Brian’s first major success in the showring and she also won the traditional-bred award for good measure.

Worthwhile wait

The three-year-old class results dominated the young horse championship, won by William Little’s My Valley’s Diamond. By the late Holsteiner stallion Vittorio, she was last year’s All-Ireland two-year-old filly champion at Kildysart, immediately followed up by the two-year-old title at Dublin Horse Show.

This year, she was the champion young horse at Balmoral in May and the next outing pencilled in was the All-Ireland three-year-old final at Bannow and Rathangan, which took place on Thursday (See News page for this year’s result).

Ciaran Ward’s Pleasure For Sure, by Another Pleasure, second in the three-year-old filly class to the champion, followed her again in the championship with the reserve title.

Athlone showing families - Darragh and Niamh Glynn and Michael Dooner - won the lion’s share of the broodmare and foal class prize money. The Glynn’s Crannaghmore Elusive Lady and Dooner’s Rockin’ Ruby, by Elusive Emir and Loughehoe Guy, stood first and second in both the broodmare and then the combination mare/foal classes.

Michael’s Lucky Laura, another by Steeped In Luck, won the filly foal class, ahead of the Glynn’s filly by Z7 Mervano, who stands, alongside the 2015 Croker Cup champion Elusive Emir, with Niamh’s father John Varley at his Coolin House Stud.

The third section judged in the in-hand horses ring was the Irish Draught classes. Finding a blank weekend is nigh impossible, and the IDHBA Laois Branch Show drew some exhibitors; however, quality was good amongst the entries.

Offspring of Tors Gentleman Farmer, the late Eddie Murphy’s 2010 Irish Draught stallion champion at Dublin, had a good day at Longford. The champion - Padraig and Amy Bohan’s Gortfadda Farmer’s Diamond - was one.

“She is out of our mare Gortfadda Diamonds, who won the young mare class in Dublin two years ago and we also had her full-sister in Longford, who won the foal class too,” said Padraig.

The earlier Irish Draught mare class saw the judges opting for more traditional types and was topped by Kim Scott’s Minerva, by WRS Elvis, a winner too at Newcastlewest Show.

With the Bohans and Mike Keane holding on for the championship, it was between the Leitrim and Galway owners to see who the wait was worth for. It was young Paul Bohan, leading Gortfadda Farmer’s Diamond, who had also led her dam in Ring 1 at Dublin in 2024, who claimed the champion’s sash with Mike in reserve with his Moylough Supremacy yearling filly Cherrynook I Love Lucy.

Longford Show was still in full swing and the packed car park field still full, while the in-hand owners loaded up their Draught champions. The midlands show’s unique selling point (USP) is its country show atmosphere, entertainment and yet another super equine secretary in Bernie Whyte, whose family members doubled as more than capable stewards.

Willie Little with his homebred young horse champion My Valleys Diamond, shown by Shirley Hurst \ Susan Finnerty

Around the ringside

  • Not one but two statues of Our Lady of Prague (she worked her dry day magic last Sunday) and show signage are part of many shows’ toolkits. Longford Show’s excellent road signs were spotted from miles out.
  • An iconic photo in the Longford Show archives is of a young Eddie Macken and his pony at the horseman’s very first show.
  • Another renowned Longford horseman is the late stallion master and successful RDS exhibitor, Frank Kilkenny. His grandson Jordan, carving out a lucrative business in the American hunter and equitation markets, sponsors the hunter section at Longford, where the Frank Kilkenny Memorial Cup is also awarded to the champion hunter.
  • Longford is another outing prized by hunter exhibitors for its busy country show atmosphere to prep horses for Dublin. It’s also a lucky hunting ground, as PJ Casey won the hunter championship here last year with Raglan Road en route to winning the Dublin supreme title.
  • This midlands show was also a springboard for Hurst Show Team, who won the Longford young horse championship three years ago with their home-bred Tattygare Me Me Me, by Arkan, that also went on to win the Dublin supreme hunter championship in 2024.
  • Last year, the team won the Longford young horse championship with Dessie Gibson’s Ireland’s Call, the future All-Ireland two-year-old champion at Tinahely and, this year, Shirley led William Little’s home-bred filly My Valleys Diamond last Sunday. The Vittorio filly’s damline goes back to the Queen of Coronea, a Bassompierre mare that the Tyrone man bought from John Hickey in West Cork.
  • Ciaran Murphy took over Dot Love’s training license after the Danish-born event rider and racehorse trainer retired in 2021. Her biggest racecourse win? Liberty Counsel’s victory in the Irish Grand National in 2013. Ciaran’s twin brother Joseph competed the Jimmy Ryan-bred Electric Cruise at the 2012 London Olympics. Ciaran actually rode Dot’s first winner - I’m On The Line - in a Kilbeggan bumper 25 years ago.
  • Like Emily Murphy, Megan Connell also got a four-legged birthday gift. “Ruby was my 21st birthday present back in 2019. I found her advert on DoneDeal and bought her off a lady called Jane Kinsella. My plan is to be back in the saddle in time for Dublin, so right now, I’m just rolling with that plan - but I’m extremely lucky to have a brilliant brother like Chris. I know my Ruby is in safe hands with him should my plan not work.”
  • Mike Keane is more usually seen with a Connemara in tow. “So, the question was posed to us today: after your success with Connemara ponies, why Irish Draughts and why now?” Jennifer, his wife, replied. “Fair question really and one we are getting a lot these days! When we decided to come back home from Montana, Irish Draughts were definitely on ‘The Bucket List’ and, who knows, maybe some day we’ll be lucky enough to have a run around the ring in Dublin with one.”
  • Paul Bohan had a busy 48 hours, leading the family’s Draughts at Longford on Sunday and then attending his debs on Monday night. There’s more busy times ahead with the organisation of their local show, Mohill and its Leitrim Breeders’ Championship, synonymous with the late Michael Casey. “Both Paul and I are on the Mohill Show committee and we’re both involved with the Leitrim Breeders’ Mare and Foal Final,” his dad Padraig said.
  • Sadly, another ringside absentee was the late Jimmy McVeigh, a great Irish Draught enthusiast and whose daughter Hazel is the secretary of Granard Show (July 18th). Jimmy had a mounted Draught escort at his funeral procession, when work in the show field at nearby Ennybegs stopped as a mark of respect.